"It was a tight game but it was always going to be. I was very disappointed with the two goals we conceded. They certainly weren't great goals.

"I thought we were much better for much of the game than West Brom were and our play made Gary Megson change his system.

"We have got a mountain to climb if we are to catch the teams who are at the top of the table. The top two clubs have got all those points in the bag.

"But if you can put together a good run of results things can change very quickly and that's what we're hoping to do.

"For us to be in to be in the top six in this division has been great so far. I am not going to make any predicitions about the future, I am just pleased we are where we are but I know we can do better."

Gary Megson

"I'm content with the win but it was a poor performance to say the least. I didn't think we passed the ball well or looked coehsive in possession.

"We've played better football than that on lots of occassions and not won this season.

"We'll take the three points but we must't kid ourselves, and i'm sure the players won't, that will get us where we want to be.

"I thought the header that lead to the penalty was going to drop for them in the six-yard box but Bernt got himself into a poor position and I don't think we could argue with it, which we didn't.

"I thought we won the game because we kept going. It was a good run by Lee Hughes and the penalty got us back into it. The sending off also made it hard for Wigan.

"We then pushed and pushed and I thought Andy Johnson should have scored. We were thankful, in the end, to a really good strike by Thomas Gaardsoe."

Editor's View

It was another harsh result for the Latics, on a night where very little broke for them.

The referee was hell bent on booking every single Wiganer on the pitch and seemed immune to giving the away side a free-kick.

The less said about the referee the better.

Before the game, I was confident. West Brom are a big physical side who pretty much bully results out of the opposition and I thought this would suit us with the two big lads at centre half who seem to self destruct against quick strikers.

And it was undoubtably going that way at half time as the Latics had battled their way to a 0-0 half time scoreline.

Horsfield had been kept so quiet by Jason de Vos that he was substituted before the second half, while his partner Lee Hughes had only a volley from 25 yards to look back on.

Overall I was pleased with the first half.

Second half was a different story with Delroy Facey causing problems with his pace and strength. The defence sunk back deeper as a result which led to the Albion gaining more control in the centre of the park.

They started to dictate play a bit more, but we looked very dangerous on the counter attack. This came to a head when Liddell supplied one-in-a-long-line of great crosses from the right hand side. McCulloch had pulled off to the back post and he got up to try and head back across goal. His header was blocked by a Baggies arm and the referee pointed to the spot.

Mr reliable did the rest.

It was then the Baggies' turn to get a penalty. Lee Hughes got between Breckin and de Vos, he got in one-on-one with Filan who brought him down.

Filan was then sent off and substitute 'keeper Gary Walsh failed to stop Hughes' penalty.

The cruelist blow however was dealt right at the death when Thomas Gaardsoe thumped a volley into the bottom right corner of the net from 18 yards, sending the Hawthorns crazy and the Latics into dispair.

Looking back at the game this morning I feel we deserved to get a point, and it was a shame that Roberts, Mahon and Teale were missing...

I do believe though that with a fully fit squad we will beat anyone in this league.

Player Ratings

Filan 7
Eaden 7
Baines 8 M.O.M
de Vos 7
Breckin 8
Liddell 8
McCulloch 7
Roberts 7
Jarrett 7
Bullard 7
Ellington 8

Subs
Walsh 6
Flynn 6

League Table

Last game played on Tuesday 16th March 2004		Pld		Home						Away						Overall						Pts	GD
				W	D	L	F	A		W	D	L	F	A		W	D	L	F	A
1	Norwich City	36		14	3	2	33	13		6	7	4	24	17		20	10	6	57	30		70	+27
2	West Bromwich Albion	37		11	5	3	29	14		9	5	4	24	18		20	10	7	53	32		70	+21
3	Sheffield United	36		9	4	4	30	19		8	4	7	23	23		17	8	11	53	42		59	+11
4	Wigan Athletic	36		9	6	3	23	13		6	7	5	26	24		15	13	8	49	37		58	+12
5	West Ham United	36		8	6	4	30	17		6	9	3	21	17		14	15	7	51	34		57	+17
6	Reading	37		9	5	4	25	21		7	4	8	22	28		16	9	12	47	49		57	-2
7	Sunderland	34		9	7	1	24	11		6	4	7	23	24		15	11	8	47	35		56	+12
8	Millwall	35		9	6	2	21	10		6	5	7	23	24		15	11	9	44	34		56	+10
9	Ipswich Town	37		10	2	6	40	29		6	6	7	27	32		16	8	13	67	61		56	+6
10	Coventry City	36		6	8	4	22	17		7	5	6	26	22		13	13	10	48	39		52	+9
11	Preston North End	36		10	4	4	34	20		4	6	8	19	26		14	10	12	53	46		52	+7
12	Stoke City	36		9	6	3	30	19		5	4	9	20	28		14	10	12	50	47		52	+3
13	Crystal Palace	36		6	7	5	27	24		8	2	8	30	29		14	9	13	57	53		51	+4
14	Cardiff City	36		8	5	6	35	21		5	5	7	22	26		13	10	13	57	47		49	+10
15	Crewe Alexandra	35		9	2	6	25	18		3	6	9	19	30		12	8	15	44	48		44	-4
16	Watford	37		7	7	5	26	24		4	3	11	16	28		11	10	16	42	52		43	-10
17	Rotherham United	36		6	7	5	24	21		4	5	9	17	28		10	12	14	41	49		42	-8
18	Nottingham Forest	36		6	6	6	27	22		4	5	9	18	25		10	11	15	45	47		41	-2
19	Walsall	37		7	6	6	25	26		3	5	10	13	24		10	11	16	38	50		41	-12
20	Gillingham	35		8	1	8	19	22		3	7	8	16	27		11	8	16	35	49		41	-14
21	Burnley	36		7	6	5	28	22		2	7	9	19	38		9	13	14	47	60		40	-13
22	Derby County	36		7	5	6	25	27		2	6	10	12	29		9	11	16	37	56		38	-19
23	Bradford City	37		5	3	11	18	27		4	3	11	13	25		9	6	22	31	52		33	-21
24	Wimbledon	35		2	3	12	14	30		3	0	15	14	42		5	3	27	28	72		18	-44

Other Results

Tuesday 16th March 2004
	Nationwide League Division One
	Cardiff City	(1)	2	Reading	(2)	3	14,051
	Norwich City	(0)	3	Gillingham	(0)	0	23,198
	Rotherham United	(0)	1	Sheffield United	(0)	1	9,793
	Sunderland	(0)	1	Stoke City	(1)	1	24,510
	Walsall	(0)	1	Ipswich Town	(0)	3	6,762
	Watford	(1)	2	Derby County	(1)	1	13,931
	West Bromwich Albion	(0)	2	Wigan Athletic	(0)	1	26,215
	Nationwide League Division Two
	Blackpool	(0)	1	Brentford	(1)	1	4,617
	Chesterfield	(0)	0	Brighton & Hove Albion	(0)	2	4,478
	Colchester United	(1)	1	Wycombe Wanderers	(1)	1	3,092
	Hartlepool United	(1)	2	Stockport County	(2)	2	4,674
	Oldham Athletic	(0)	1	Barnsley	(1)	1	5,837
	Plymouth Argyle	(0)	2	Peterborough United	(0)	0	13,110
	Port Vale	(0)	1	Luton Town	(0)	0	5,048
	Queens Park Rangers	(0)	2	Wrexham	(0)	0	13,363
	Rushden & Diamonds	(2)	2	Notts. County	(0)	1	4,030
	Nationwide League Division Three
	Bristol Rovers	(1)	2	Torquay United	(2)	2	6,461
	Bury	(2)	3	Mansfield Town	(0)	0	2,199
	Cambridge United	(0)	0	Boston United	(1)	1	3,294
	Carlisle United	(0)	1	Northampton Town	(0)	1	6,269
	Huddersfield Town	(0)	1	Rochdale	(1)	1	10,884
	Hull City	(1)	3	Leyton Orient	(0)	0	15,531
	Lincoln City	(0)	2	Southend United	(2)	2	3,943
	Macclesfield Town	(1)	2	Swansea City	(0)	1	1,513
	Scunthorpe United	(0)	0	Kidderminster Harriers	(1)	2	2,512
	Yeovil Town	(0)	0	Doncaster Rovers	(0)	1	7,587
	Nationwide Conference
	Burton Albion	(0)	1	Aldershot Town	(1)	4	1,295
	Margate	(1)	3	Accrington Stanley	(0)	1	345
	Northwich Victoria	(0)	1	Exeter City	(0)	1	547
	Scarborough	(0)	0	Tamworth	(0)	1	1,059

The F.A. Cup
	Quarter Final Replay
	Tranmere Rovers	(1)	1	Millwall	(2)	2	15,510