Last Updated: Sat, 03 May 2008 17:17
A plucky Wigan secured safety today with a brave display against a frustrated Aston Villa.
The first half was a scrappy and disappointing affair, the only real strike of note came from Gabriel Agbonlahor who rose well to meet a Gareth Barry corner and the young Englishman was only denied by a brilliant scrambling save from Chris Kirkland to tip it over the crossbar.
As the second half began, Aston Villa came out firing, dominating the play until out of the blue, Antonio Valencia latched on to a pass from Jason Koumas, the winger turned onto his right foot before driving a shot goalbound. It deflected off Wilfred Bouma's outstretched leg and looped up and over Scott Carson and into the net to give the visitors the lead after 52 minutes, against the run of play.
After going behind, Martin O'Neill's side came back at Wigan, Gareth Barry hitting a good strike from range but could only find the side netting. From that, Wigan counter-attacked and Emile Heskey rose to flick-on to Valencia again who turned inside and drilled the shot with the outside of his right boot past Carson at the near post. It was a second for Valencia and a two goal lead for Wigan just after the hour mark.
Good defending from Scharner and Bramble at the heart of the defence managed to frustrate the Villa front line. Ashley Young and Barry continued to lob balls into the box but everything was cleared or caught by Kirkland, who was impressive on the day.
The result leaves Aston Villa three points behind Everton who could now secure fifth with a point at the Emirates tomorrow. However, Wigan have now cemented their Premier League status for next year and chairman Dave Whelan's faith in Steve Bruce has proved well-founded. Valencia will grab the headlines but Bramble and Scharner played a massive part today.