A well-timed header from home debutant Alex Revell sealed all 3 points for Wigan Athletic against Shrewsbury Town, extending their undefeated home record in the league to 9 games.
Wigan’s incredible recent form over the last two months of the season meant that league one strugglers Shrewsbury were viewed as heavy underdogs heading into the match. Micky Mellon’s side have been seemingly unable to capitalise on their impressive 2-0 victory over Bury in October, losing every match since.
Two changes were made to the Wigan starting lineup that dominantly defeated Rochdale last week, with Chris McCann and youngster Tim Chow replacing Jason Pearce and Craig Davies.
Despite a relatively cagey opening to the game, which saw injured Wigan winger Michael Jacobs being replaced by Northern Ireland international Will Grigg, the Latics soon began to show signs of penetration, piercing the Shrewsbury back-line several times without being able to convert their opportunities into goals. Neat interplay between Tim Chow and Will Grigg on the right hand side was followed by a well struck cross from the latter which narrowly missed the head of loanee Revell, before the outstretched boot of Reece James was unable to fire on target.
As the first half continued, Shrewsbury’s defence sat back in the hope of absorbing Wigan’s menacing attacking intent up until the halftime whistle. However, Wigan were finally able to make their endless pressure pay in the 36th minute. Max Power’s delicate pass to the left flank found Wigan’s loan sensation Yanic Wildschut, whose brute strength and agility was no match for Shrewsbury’s Abu Ogogo. Wildschut sailed past Ogogo, sprinting towards the byline before chipping in a cross towards the far post which was met by the head of Alex Revell, deftly steering the ball beyond keeper Leutwiler. Revell’s first goal for the club being the 29th in Wigan’s season so far, putting the Latics tied for fourth in most goals scored so far this season. Wigan’s scoring prowess is in stark contrast to last season, a season in which they scored only a miserable 39 goals in a total of 46 games.
After the deadlock was broken, chances were aplenty for Wigan, with the best of the bunch stemming from another majestic Wildschut sprint into the box, which was followed by a stinging cross that was narrowly fired around the post by midfielder Chow. The only remaining action of the first half was a surging strike from Shrewsbury’s Larnell Cole from 30 yards out in the 44th minute that had to be turned around the post by a scurrying Jussi Jaaskelainen in the Wigan goal.
As the second half began to take shape, it was clear through a more defensive formation that Wigan were content to sit back and defend any Shrewsbury attacks for the rest of the game in the hopes of securing a narrow victory. Wigan’s aims were almost spoiled in the 56th minute however by a dangerously struck free-kick from Shrewsbury’s Sullay Kaikai that left Wigan keeper Jaaskelainen rooted to his goal line. Thankfully for the Latics, Kaikai’s effort evaded the left hand post and whisked wide, in what would be the last major chance of the game for Shrewsbury.
Both Donervon Daniels and Max Power came close to finding the net in the dying embers of the game, however based on the scrappy nature of play the match was always destined to finish 1-0. Speaking to the official Wigan Athletic website after the match, new boy Alex Revell described the feeling to score his first goal with the Latics. “I think as a centre forward you’re always going to be judged on goals, so it’s a nice start for me here”. “It’s a great feeling, nothing can ever match scoring goals.”
Wigan boss Gary Caldwell was impressed with Wigan’s ability to secure a victory against a struggling team in a game with so few real opportunities. “It’s another big win for us. We expect that every week now. We know the competition in this league is fierce.” “We know we’ll get teams that come and ask us a lot of questions and put us under a lot of pressure”.
A third consecutive victory and the fifth in six games sees Wigan edge closer to the automatic promotion spots as they climb to fourth, now only one point off second placed Gillingham.
