Wigan Athletic 2 Birmingham City 3: match report

05 December 2009 17:01
Now let us see what the man can do with a bit of cash. Alex McLeish is set to have £80 million to spend in the January transfer market thanks to Birmingham City's new owner Carson Yeung but showed he has a sound basis to work from as his team came from behind to win and extend their unbeaten run to six matches. [LNB]Wigan were in complete control at the interval and fully deserved the lead they had secured through a fine goal from Charles N'Zogbia but Sebastian Larsson equalised just after the hour, Christian Benitez scored a second and Larsson added a third to show McLeish really has got his players working for him. [LNB] Related ArticlesPremier League tablePremier League actionTelegraph player raterPremier League fixturesSport on televisionAfter falling out with anyone and everyone at Newcastle N'Zogbia has been revitalised as a right winger under Roberto Martinez, handed the opportunity to cut in onto his stronger foot to cause mischief. [LNB]He gave an early indication of what he is capable of when he burst past Liam Ridgewell and slipped a pass through for Paul Scharner, who took the ball past goalkeeper Joe Hart but, off-balanace and under pressure from Stephen Carr, could not hit the target. [LNB]Another cross for Scharner was wasted by the Austrian and after Chris Kirkland limped off, his replacement, veteran Mike Pollitt immediately pulled off a fine save from Christian Benitez. [LNB]But when Wigan finally made the breakthrough just after the half-hour mark, it was no surprise that it came from N'Zogbia. Jason Scotland may not have scored in the Premier League yet but few strikers are adept at holding the ball up and his lay-off found N'Zogbia, who calmly curled into the far top corner. [LNB]But all that good work was undone when Mohamed Diame was harshly penalised for a challenge on Lee Bowyer and Larsson's free kick flew over the mass of bodies in the area and into the corner of Pollitt's net. [LNB]And four minutes later, a remarkable come back was complete, when Bowyer hooked over the top and Benitez out-paced Titus Bramble and his low shot rolled into the net despite a decent contact from Pollitt. [LNB]Meaning it this time, Larsson then curled in a wonderful free kick to give Birmingham some comfort before Jordi Gomez pulled one back for the hosts late on with yet another free kick.[LNB]

Source: Telegraph