Swans deepen former boss Martinez's gloom

03 March 2012 18:17

Wigan edged closer to relegation on Saturday as Roberto Martinez's side were beaten 2-0 by his former club Swansea which also ended a three-game unbeaten run.

A double by on-loan Icelandic midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson was enough for the visitors to put an end to a losing run of two matches and ensure Wigan stay bottom of the table, two points from safety.

More worryingly for Martinez is that his side failed to break down a Swansea side reduced to 10 men on the hour mark when Nathan Dyer was sent-off.

Brendan Rodgers, meanwhile, became the first Swansea manager to win at Wigan since Jan Molby's outfit did in 1996.

Sigurdsson ran the show in the opening 45 minutes as Wigan tried stoically to at least go in on level terms.

However, Sigurdsson's efforts looked set to go unrewarded after first former Wigan star Scott Sinclair and then Dyer spurned relatively easy chances created by lovely deft balls by the Icelandic international.

Wigan had little to offer in the form of attack, unsurprisingly as they are the lowest scorers in the league with just 23 goals, and Franco de Santo showed their lack of sharpness as he headed tamely wide from Chilean Jean Beausejour's cross.

Wigan's James McCarthy then came to his side's rescue as he cleared a Sinclair effort off the line after he had rounded Omani 'keeper Ali Al Habsi but eventually the visitors' pressure told and they broke the deadlock.

Sigurdsson scored with a beautiful right-footed shot which beat Al Habsi all hands up on the stroke of half-time.

Swansea dominated the early stages of the second-half and it took a superb save from Al Habsi to deny them a second as he tipped over Joe Allen's fierce shot in the 53rd minute.

However, he could do little to prevent Sigurdsson's long range effort a minute later as he curled in their second from a 25-yard freekick to do his chances of a permanent move from Bundesliga side Hoffenheim no harm.

The hosts' chances took a turn for the better with half-an-hour remaining as Dyer earned a straight red for a high challenge on Jordi Gomez.

This at least prompted Wigan into pouring forward in search of a goal, but Graham blocked Mohamed Diame's shot on the line and Di Santo also went close.

Source: AFP