Rotherham United 0 Wigan Athletic 3 - Saturday 30th August 2003

Report by John Patrick Heeley

Wigan Athletic jumped to 4th in Division One thanks to a 3-0 overwhelming of Rotherham United at their Millwall ground with second half goals from Jason Jarrett, Nathan Ellington and Neil Roberts settling the tie.

The first half started brightly for the home side with Richard Barker heading Scott Minto's free kick over the bar and then Chris Sedgewick getting a shot in which was easily collected by John Filan.

Minutes later Ian Breckin tested Mike Pollitt with a header but the Rotherham keeper had no difficulty with the former Millmoor defender's effort.

Ellington fired over the bar with little over 20 minutes gone with a sweetly taken shot as Wigan took control of the game.

Wigan had probably edged the first half but the scoreline remained deadlocked as the players left the field for the interval.

The second half however was a completely one side affair with Ronnie Moore's side not really knowing what had hit them and with only 7 minutes gone found themselves a goal down.

Nathan Ellington pushed the ball forward for JASON JARRETT to grab his first ever league goal in a Wigan shirt from 10 yards out with a low drive beyond Pollitt.

The goal had been the first that the Millers had conceded at home so far this season but it wasn't going to finish there and the South Yorkshire side found themselves further behind when NATHAN ELLINGTON fired home from the edge of the area for his third goal in as many games this season.

Wigan continued to push forward and were limiting their hosts to half to odd half chance, John Mullin firing well wide after finding himself in space.

Ellington was replaced by Mark Burchill with 15 minutes of the game remaining but not before he'd been instrumental in Wigan's third goal of the afternoon.

The Wigan number 9 chased a long pass into the area and challenge d the Rotherham keeper.

The ball fell loose but only as far as NEIL ROBERTS who cooly squeezed the ball home by the near post.