By CCFC Sid
February 25 2005

They lied! As if anybody believed they wouldn't play anyway, unsurprisingly, Ellington and Roberts did start, with the latter doing the (un)necessary damage to CCFC's relegation battle. I knew I should have let their team coaches tyres down outside their hotel.... Had CCFC known they would be fit, they might just have decided to leave the covers OFF the pitch, and get the game called off until certain players were fit for selection - new signing Page, for one.

Three pairs of socks, two pairs of trousers, four tops, a big coat, and two pairs of gloves (Not to mention a hat and scarf!) meant the conditions didn't hamper my potential enjoyment of the match, with another 12,129 people also bothering to turn up (Not great, but not to bad for a midweek game, in freezing conditions, against a team from way up North!!). The conditions might not have spoilt it, but Wigan's tactics did....

Richard Duffy made his home debut for CCFC (A touch of class - if you don't want him Portsmouth....), as did Ian Bennett and Trevor Benjamin, while another new signing, Marcus Hall, made his second CCFC debut (Replacing Jorgensen). He looked a worthy addition to the side, and the decision to let him go away for a few years in a bid to regain his fitness seems to be the correct one. Early days though....

The first half belonged to CCFC, despite the away side taking an early lead through Teale. Soon after, the CCFC player (dis)credited with being guilty of not clearing the ball properly (Or being out-muscled - depending on whose version of events you go with), limped off the pitch, to be replaced by Jorgensen (Which involved a slight re-shuffling of the team).

Jorgensen immediately got into the game, setting Benjamin off on a run, and his efforts resulted in McSheffrey being brought down in the area. He stepped up to take the spot-kick, coolly slotting home past Filan to bring CCFC onto level terms, for his seventh goal in nine games.

McSheffrey was unlucky to see a fine effort later on in the first half matched by a fine save from Filan (A double save, with Filan having first cleared a decent Doyle effort), tipping the ball over the bar for a corner, while Benjamin was equally as unlucky to see his shot cannon off the post, with Filan well beaten.

Five minutes before half-time Adams was forced to make another change, with youngster Stuart Giddings being stretchered off, and Andrew Whing coming on to replace him. Within seconds of coming on, he and McSheffrey just failed to get on the end of a Jorgensen free-kick, which any touch on would have resulted in a goal (Short of any Kanu style miss!!).

Five minutes were added on at the end of the half, with a cracking Whing intervention stopping one Wigan attack, and some dallying in the area by Osbourne almost landing CCFC in trouble. CCFC also launched one last attack before the whistle signalled the end of the half, with a poor Doyle cross proving nothing more than catching practice for Filan (Something CCFC were far to guilty of throughout the match).

With Wigan sometimes struggling to contain CCFC's attack in the first half, the referee and his assistant decided to help them out for the second 45 minutes with some bizarre decisions, always in favour of the away side. I suppose I had better insert the word "allegedly" at this point....

Stern John enjoyed one of his better games for CCFC, but the amount of times he was caught offside was on a par with Darren Huckerby at his (Nearly) worst! He wasn't helped by a linesman that didn't seem to understand the offside rule, but, with it being unlikely that said match official could be re-educated during the match, John should have changed his game instead.

Michael Doyle was the first name in the referees book, for nothing more than a spot of shirt pulling, while challenges far more worthy of a card by Wigan went unpunished.

What turned out to be the winning goal was scored by Ellington, with one or two people having it down as a `Goal Of The Season' contender - having talked about this with others, I'm not the only person to think that (a) it wasn't actually that good, and (b) he didn't actually mean it!! Not bitterness at losing, just an opinion....

Following the goal, Jason Roberts was responsible for an incident, involving smashing the ball in the direction of CCFC supporters in the East Stand, that will hopefully see him in hot water....

Osbourne was replaced by Hughes on 75 minutes, and his first contribution should have led to a CCFC corner - but the referee decided otherwise. Surprise.

Two minutes later John was cynically brought down by McCulloch, but, with the home crowd hoping for a red card (Not likely with this referee!!), only a yellow was awarded. The same player hacked down Jorgensen late on, and somehow avoided any colour card, so stayed on the pitch.

Jorgensen sent CCFC's last chance, from a free-kick, agonisingly just over the bar, and, with Forest winning, and now only six points behind with two games in hand, it's fair to say CCFC are looking deep in the brown smelly stuff (Though I'm sure some numpty on the Message Board will say I have no idea what I'm on about, and that CCFC are safe).

In a very short space of time, Adams is building a CCFC team that is proplerly able to compete in this division (Rather than the team Peter reid built), but on the evidence of this match, bullying and cynical fouling seems to be the way to get to the top of the table.

Quite why the referee allowed Wigan players, that went down as if they had been shot, yet who were able to sprint back onto the field of play seconds later, to do so so often without a quiet word, I don't know. But he never bothered, and, as a result, the ball was in play far less than it should have been throughout the match. That's entertainment? No! But I guess it's effective....