United line-up: Barrett, Matt Joseph, Granville (Thompson 80), Preece, Craddock, Raynor, Hayes, Hyde, Kyd (Richards 92), Barnwell, Beall.
Sub not used: Wanless
Booked: Preece (dissent), Hayes (foul).

Gareth Challis' match report:
The curse is beginning to strike again. A fourth minute of injury time equalizer from Ian Kilford, which looked to be a very dodgy goal from where I was standing, stole the points from the U's.

All in all, it was an (almost) excellent game to watch, with the U's playing good football and pressurising the Wigan defence from the start, forcing three of four corners in the first five minutes. As usual though, we were lacking something up front and never looked like causing much trouble. Wigan, when they did come forward, looked much more dangerous.

Highlight of the first half was an excellent save from Scott Barrett as the defence seemed to ignore the Wigan striker running from halfway inside his own half right up to the edge of the penalty area ... a low blast directed into the bottom corner was saved brilliantly by Scotty, with Craddock clearing the ball to safety.

The first goal came on 58 minutes. Wigan failed to clear a corner properly, and after some scrambling on the edge of the area, Barnwell shot through a defenders leg with very little power ... the 'keeper saw it very late, the ball rolling into the corner past his out-stretched hands.

Soon after, Andy Saville (or the other baldy-one !) was put through on the left, bringing out another great save from Barrett.

In the last 15 minutes Wigan were much the better team with the U's not really sure what to do with the ball once they got it, other than give it straight to men in white and blue. Not recommended ! At one stage a Wigan player looked to be clear through, before being yanked back by Adi Hayes - looked to be very lucky not to be sent off, although I haven't seen this on tv yet.

With the game four minutes into injury time, a cross from Martinez was 'bounced' into the 'net by Ian Kilford via Barrett's body. I didn't see much of the goal other than the ball bouncing around, but the News of the World say that Barrett got something to the ball before it went in.

Wigan perhaps deserved the point, purely down to when they attacked they looked like they had the ability to score. Only a crowd of 2,784 which wasn't much considering the positions of the two teams ... and Wigan did bring a fair amount of fans down with them.

Ratings :

Barrett     8 - *MoM* - Not sure what part he played in the goal until I 
                see it on tv.
Joseph      7
Granville   6
Preece      7 - Much better game
Craddock    6
Raynor      7
Hayes       6 - Had some bad moments
Hyde        6  (see, I *can* give someone else MoM !!)
Kyd         6
Barnwell    6
Beall       7

Subs :
Thompson    Came on for Granville just before Adi Hayes was booked.
            Looked to be loads of space left open once Danny went off.
Richards    On for Kyd after 90 mins, 60 seconds later it was 1-1.

Gareth

Terry Wilby's report:
The game against Wigan was very good from a footballing point of view, both teams trying to play football and succeeding. Wigan made the better chances, Barrett having to make a couple of superb saves, which is why I put him as Man of the Match. We again didn't make enough clear chances, the normal problem of Kyd and Barnwell not being big/strong enough. The rest of the team did pretty well, although I still have doubts about only 3 at the back.

Wigan had Andy Saville at the front, a big bald ugly bloke, unfortunately quite a good player. Oh that Santa could bring us some-one like him. (I mean good footballer, not ugly bloke!)

Kyd tired towards the end, I thought he should have been replaced with Richards with 15 minutes left. Granville was injured and replaced with Thompson mid way through the second half.

A range of emotions were felt, a bit of luck at not being a goal down, then elation after we scored and considered the last time we kept a clean sheet, then desolation when they equalised in the 94th minute. A draw was a fair result.

Ratings:

Barrett   8
Joseph    7
Granville 7
Preece    6
Craddock  7
Raynor    6
Hayes     6
Hyde      7
Kyd       6
Barnwell  6
Beall     7

Subs:
Richards  6
Thompson  5

Many thanks to Gareth Challis and Terry Wilby for their reports.

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