Refeering decisions again haunt Latics after fearless performance

MANCHESTER CITY 3
Tevez 77, 75, 83

WIGAN ATHLETIC 0

Report by Paul Chialton

Stuart Atwell's bizarre and extremely poor decision to send off Gary Caldwell in the second-half changed the complexity of this game completely, going from a situation where Latics were controlling the play to giving City the boost and advantage they needed to carve out their goals.

A errant ball on 56 minutes was there to be won between Carlos Tevez and Caldwell with the defender determined to win back possession. His challenge was strong but got enough of the ball to get him out of trouble, but not according to Atwell who sprang to his pocket and produced a red card.

From there it was advantage City and a chance for Tevez to break free of Caldwell's shackles and fire a stunning six-minute hat-trick.

Up to that point it was hard to tell which side were playing at home, Latics had really taken the game to the home side; ruthless ay the back they sustained City's pressure and broke forward through the impressive Momo Diame who made his midfield-counterpart Patrick Vieira lool out of his depth.

Up-front Marcelo Moreno gave his best performance in a Wigan Athletic shirt working tirelessly to unsettle the defence, bringing others into the game and coming agonisingly close to opening his scoring account after the break. His cushioned control and turn took Kolo Toure out of the situation and his curling left-footed effort bent inches past the flailing Shay Given, an excellent, promising performance from the Bolivian.

Right from back to front Roberto Martinez's men were superb and understoood their roles so well, dealing with the early pressure from the home-side, unsettling the crowd and building themselves a platform for a result.

In the end it didn't go to plan with one decision putting all our hard-work to waste and gave City the opportunity they needed to win this encounter. Disappointing but a fantastic performance that if replicated will no doubt bring the results we need.

Latics: Stojkovic; Melchiot, Bramble, Caldwell, Figueroa; Thomas (N'Zogbia, 53), Diame; McCarthy, Scharner, Rodallega (Scotland, 82); Moreno (Gohouri, 82)

Subs: Pollitt, Sinclair, Moses, Gomez

Man City: Given; Zabaleta, Kompany, Toure, Garrido (Onuoha, 88); Wright-Phillips (Bellamy,45), Vieira, De Jong, Johnson; Tevez (Sylvinho, 88) , Adebayor

Subs: Taylor, Richards, Santa Cruz