Peterborough United 0 Wigan Athletic 2 - Saturday 3rd November 2001

Haworth on the double to seal win

Report by John Patrick Heeley

Wigan Athletic notched up their second successive victory on their travels thanks to another Simon Haworth double at London Road.

Wigan were fully deserved of the three points as they prevented the home side from creating anything but half chances and then finished them off with two pieces of clinical finishing from their leading goalscorer.

Peterborough had slightly the better of the opening exchanges and Neale Fenn should have done better after being put through by Jon Cullen but the striker failed to control the ball and wasted the opportunity.

Then the lively Leon McKenzie broke free leaving Wigan skipper Arjan De Zeeuw in his wake but was stopped in his tracks by a perfectly timed challenge from Scott Green.

Wigan's first chance on goal came from Andy Liddell but his shot on the volley went wide of the mark but he was involved in Wigan's opener minutes later when he collected a through ball down the right from Paul Dalglish and then sent in a low ball across the area for SIMON HAWORTH to meet and tap in for his 8th of the season and the 50th league goal of his career.

Five minutes later Andy Liddell went close to stretching Wigan's lead when he stole the ball from Marc Joseph on the edge of the area before sending a low shot at goal but Mark Tyler in the Peterborough goal got down to comfortably save.

Wigan continued to put pressure on Peterborough who were limited to a few half chances involving the skilful Leon McKenzie whose pace got the better of the Wigan defence on more than one occasion.

The second half continued much in the same way as the first with very few clear cut chances created by either side.

David Oldfield had a crack at goal in the opening stages but saw his effort deflected clear by Scott Green and then a Neale Fenn free kick tested the Wigan keeper before Icelander Helgi Danielsson fired straight at Stillie just after the hour mark.

At the other end Haworth forced a save from Tyler with a low drive and then Dalglish intercepted a Peterborough pass down on the right wing.

The midfielder raced off downfield but saw his effort cleared off the line by Marc Joseph. Dalglish then had a penalty appeal turned down after he was dispossed in the Peterborough area.

With time running out Peterborough pulled out all stops in search of an equaliser and went close as the game entered the final 10 minutes when Stillie fumbled a Joseph free kick sparking a goalmouth scramble which fortunately for Wigan was eventually cleared to safety.

Wigan then went charging upfield hitting Peterborough on the break. Ian Kilford collected the ball down on the right wing, almost level with the edge of the penalty area and his ball into the area found SIMON HAWORTH who sidefooted beyond Tyler from 10 yards out for his second of the afternoon and his sixth in the last five league games.

The goal sparked a walkout from a large part of the home crowd as they showed their disgust at their side's poor showing or was it to join the queue for their FA Cup First Round tie at Bedford, who knows?

As the minutes ticked away a mist covered the London Road pitch from a bonfire close by and Wigan clung on to register only their 4th win of the season.