Oranges not so fresh against Lemons

Norwich City 3
Martin, 36, 57
Whaley, 76
Wigan Athletic 2
N'Zogbia, 9
Cho, 49

Match Report by Paul Chialton

Not as emphatic a performance as the one against Preston North End earlier in the week, but certainly not one without positives.

It was another game in which manager Roberto Martinez chose to make a number of substitutions at half-time, a tactic that has so far worked well in giving players plenty of playing-time, and for the majority his side were on top.

Norwich simply had no answers in the first-half, failing to penetrate Latics' defence and creating little up-front, apart from one chance which led to their first goal.

Charles N'Zogbia had his tail up wanting to get on the ball at every opportunity and run at defenders. This ploy came off big-time for him after just ten minutes, receiving the ball from Ben Watson, skipping past two defenders and slotting calmly past the keeper.

N'Zogbia got the early goal to give Latics the advantage.

To be fair Martinez and his players are still working on a number of methods and patterns of play that do take time to perfect and for which these games are designed for.

Titus Bramble and his defence looked stern and held off any further advancements in the first 45 minutes, and Jason Koumas seemed to be relishing his role on the left-wing cutting inside on a few occasions to fire dangerously close to goal.

The second-half predictably brought around a number of changes, the gaffer still wanting the squad to get equal opportunities to show what they can do, and one man who did shine was Won-Hee Cho.

The South Korean did his best to cover every blade of grass and came up trumps with an emphatic finish that, at the time, put Latics ahead.

Michael Brown fed into Jason Scotland's feet, and the front-man slipped Cho into the area first time for the midfielder to blast into the roof of the net.

An equaliser from Chris Martin and what proved to be the winner from Simon Whaley brought a smile to the faces of the 8,000 home fans, but it's important not to overlook the fact that Latics are still experimenting and there are definite signs of progression in their play.

Yes Martinez will be a little disappointed with the result but on the whole this was a good test for his side, and will go some way to helping him decide what his best side will be come the trip to Aston Villa on 15^th August.

Norwich City: Theoklitos, Otsemobor, Jones (Gill, 60), Doherty, Drury; Spillane, Whaley, Hughes (Adeyemi, 60), Holt; Martin, Hoolahan
Subs: Alnwick, Lappin, Cureton, McDonald, McVeigh
Latics: First-Half: Pollitt; Melchiot, Bramble, Scharner, Figueroa; Cattermole, Thomas; N'Zogbia, Watson, Koumas; Rodallega
Latics: Second-Half: Pollitt; Boyce, Bramble, Scharner, Edman; Cho, Brown; de Ridder, Gomez, Bouaouzan; Scotland
Subs: Nicholls, Kupisz