Premier League
| Wigan Athletic 0 | |
|---|---|
| Middlesbrough 1 |
|
- guardian.co.uk, Sunday October 5 2008 00.01 BST
- The Observer, Sunday October 5 2008
Jeremie Aliadière celebrates his winning goal against Wigan Athletic two minutes from time. Photograph: Andrew Boyers/Action Images
Jeremie Aliadière may have clinched the points thanks to his 88th-minute sucker punch, but the acclaim after the match went elsewhere as both managers - and the watching Fabio Capello - marvelled at the heroics of Middlesbrough all-English defence.
'I don't think our keeper touched the ball in the whole game, but the way Boro defended was a credit to them, particularly their centre-backs,' conceded Steve Bruce, whose side had lorded it over the visitors for most of the match but rarely found a way past David Wheater and Chris Riggott - and were thwarted by 23-year-old goalkeeper Ross Turnbull on the few occasions they did.
'It was a game where the centre-backs were given an opportunity to stand up and do their job,' Gareth Southgate concurred. 'But there were excellent performances right across the back five, particularly by the keeper.'
Depleted by injury and drained of confidence, Middlesbrough's squad had been shoved on to the back foot from the outset by their more fluid and robust hosts. Their hopes of claiming a first away victory of 2008 looked forlorn.
Wigan's dominance was most obvious in midfield, where Lee Cattermole was teaching the club that reared him a lesson. Cattermole's combativeness subdued Mohamed Shawky and Gary O'Neil and allowed Wilson Palacios to raid forward and dovetail with Emile Heskey and Amr Zaki.
Wigan's first clear chance came in the ninth minute when Heskey flicked on a long kick by Chris Kirkland and Antonio Valencia eluded the defenders to collect it. His shot fizzed just wide of the post.
Thereafter, Zaki was Wigan's main conduit but, though the Premier League's top scorer exuded confidence, too often his over-eagerness sabotaged his control. He hit a Valencia cross into the side-netting and in the 37th minute he lunged after the ball but instead caught fellow Egyptian Shawky and was booked.
Two minutes later, he almost made a more positive impact, receiving the ball after neat interplay by Palacios and Heskey before arrowing a shot towards the top corner. Turnbull excelled to tip it past the post for a corner.
Though Wigan continued to control midfield, Wheater and Riggott gradually got a grip on Zaki and Heskey to prevent the home side from penetrating, though the defenders still had to perform a series of last-ditch tackles and clearances.
Nevertheless, Turnbull was required to make several more important interventions. In the 80th minute, he performed real acrobatics to hold a shot by Jason Koumas after the substitute had waltzed past four defenders.
With five minutes left, Turnbull retrieved a ball in from Daniel de Ridder just before Henri Camara could collect. Then came Aliadière's decisive blow.
Man of the match David Wheater
With Robert Huth and Emanuel Pogatetz injured, Boro needed their stopper to be dominant and he was. Gradually got hold of Zaki to the extent that the Egyptian was replaced. He even ventured forward to produce one of Boro's best attacking moments.
