Roy Hodgson will be wondering how his side have managed to come away from a game they dominated empty handed.
West Brom mounted pressure on Wigan throughout the game and it only took the Baggies two minutes to create their first chance, Captain Chris Brunt firing a shot from the edge of the area which was tipped over the crossbar by Ali Al Habsi.
From the resulting corner Jonas Olsson saw his header go inches wide. It was a great start for the Baggies and Hodgson said: “We were in control of the game.”
Baggies continued to pile on the pressure and midway through the first half Peter Odemwingie slipped a ball through to Baggies man of the match Jerome Thomas whose strike was brilliantly blocked by Gary Caldwell.
The deadlock was broken on the 33rd minute when Steven Reid curled a brilliant free-kick in from 25-yards to give the Baggies a deserved lead.
Having created barely anything Wigan equalised four minutes later when a poor clearance from the Baggies’ defence saw the ball fall kindly into the feet of Victor Moses who curled a shot into the top corner giving Ben Foster no chance.
It was a cruel ending to the first half which saw the Baggies dominate Wigan, but, at half time the teams went into the dressing room at 1-1.
After the break
The Baggies also started the second half the brighter with Shane Long making a brilliant run from inside his own half to the edge on Wigan’s penalty area, but, unfortunately for Long, he couldn’t slip the ball through to Odemwingie at the right time.
In the 56th minute Wigan’s goal-scorer Moses was caught by the trailing leg of Baggies goal-scorer Reid and Hodgson agrees with the decision to award Wigan a penalty: “No doubt it was a penalty for their goal.” Jordi Gomez stepped up and calmly slotted it away to Foster’s left.
The Baggies showed their attacking intent by taking off Youssouf Mulumbu and brining on Graham Dorrans. Albion continued to have the main possession of the game but couldn’t create any clear-cut chances.
Halfway through the second half, Nicky Shorey made a great run down the left side and produced a brilliant cross which was met by Long’s header but Al Habsi made a fine save denying the Baggies an equaliser.
Hodgson made two late substitutions bringing on Somen Tchoyi and ex-Wigan player Paul Scharner.
In the 85th minute, Thomas continued to run the Wigan defence ragged and crossed from the left wing to find an unmarked Scharner, whose header flew over the bar to the despair of the Baggies faithful.
The whistle blew and unfortunately for the Baggies it was a defeat that should have been a win. Hodgson added: “I can’t be angry at that performance because I don’t think we can play a lot better than that.”
Baggies will look to bounce back next week when they travel to Blackburn Rovers.
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