Five-goal Reserves
Comments (7) : Wigan Reserves 2 - 5 Everton Reserves
Wigan: Williams, Buxton, Mustoe, Langley, Meace, Routledge, Cwyka, Holt, Redmond, Kupisz, McManaman
Everton: Nash, Coleman, Duffy, Mustafi, Bidwell, Forshaw, Peterlin, Akpan, Craig, Baxter, Agard
It was cold and wet as the two sides at the bottom of the Premier League Reserves North table met at the Robin Park Sports Centre but they brightened up the evening with seven goals.
The home ground of Wigan Reserves sits next door to the club’s DW Stadium, located on the Robin Park Retail Park. Walking there past B&Q and Asda and the like made me wonder if this is what it will be like if we move to a retail park in Kirkby.
In the Robin Park stadium, a small, but decent, stand overlooks a long jump area, and then an eight-lane running track, in the middle of which is a football pitch. Following a lot of rain over the last four or five days, the pitch must have been heavy, but it proved a lot better than one might have expected. The two teams produced an open game that at times was end to end.
It was a slow start to the game but Everton had the first real opportunity to open the scoring as Kieran Agard showed great agility to turn his man and get a shot on goal which got parried away for a corner. On 17 minutes, centre-half Shane Duffy put the Blues in front when he headed in a well-delivered cross from Adam Forshaw. Duffy scored again just five minutes later when he headed home a cross by Shkodran Mustafi following pressure from the Blues in the final quarter of the pitch.
Wigan then had an opportunity to get back into it after a clever pass from ex-Everton trainee Daniel Redmond who found Tomasz Cwyka in space who shot wide. Everton were then forced to make a change as midfilder Hope Akpan was forced off with an injury. On came Thomas Donegan who put Everton 3-0 up when he struck a cross that the Wigan goalkeeper mis-judged and the ball went over him into the back of the net.
Everton came out into the second half and soon extended their lead when Agard latched on to a through ball and finished expertly, volleying in to the net. Wigan was then given a lifeline when Jake Bidwell fouled the advancing Cwyka who got up and slotted comfortably into Nash’s goal.
Bidwell then made amends by setting up Donegan who swivelled and volleyed from close range to put the Blues 5-1 up. Wigan’s Redmond then pulled a good save out of Nash after shooting from just outside the penalty area.
Given the number of goals going in, it was ironic that there were so many former Everton centre halves there. Alan Stubbs was on the Everton bench and Dave Watson was one of the Wigan coaches. In the stands were Dave Unsworth and Matt Jackson who also played for Wigan. First team managers David Moyes and Roberto Martinez were also watching.
The final goal of the game came after good work from Redmond down the left flank that resulted in a shot from the edge of the box being rifled into the Everton net by Jon Routledge.
In the last 20 minutes, there were few clear-cut chances as the game petered out but it was an emphatic win for the Toffees and a big improvement on last week’s defeat to Liverpool.
Regards a man of the match, Agard looked threatening up front. Anton Peterlin looked comfortable in midfield and his distribution was efficient. However my man of the match would be Shane Duffy who was strong defensively and capped a good performance with two well-taken goals.
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Only time will tell if they make the step-up. It is hard to tell at this early stage who will make the step-up but I have been impressed with the likes of Coleman, Baxter, Forshaw and Akpan at the moment.
Coleman we have already seen make his debut for the first team. We may see him make the full-back position his in future years, he looks a promising player. Also Adam Forshaw, who plays on the right hand side of midfield. He tackles well, passes neatly and gets up and down the flank.
Is he making progress?
I know we will always expect too much maybe after his very early first team debut over a year ago, but Moyes has hardly used him off the bench at all this season, suggesting he doesn’t really have a lot of faith in him.
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1 Posted 11/11/2009 at 06:13:01
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