Reasons why I love football #3: Wigan vs Blackburn

In this week’s edition of Sportskeeda EPL Weekly Predictor, I clearly stated that Wigan vs Blackburn was a classic relegation battle to watch out for, and that relegation battles can be more exciting than battles for the title. While my prediction of a home win was proven wrong, I wasn’t disappointed by the thrilling outcome of this match, for it clearly was the best match of the weekend. Obviously we still have Chelsea vs Liverpool tonight, but I doubt that one will be half as fun as this one. Just in case it is, it will give rise to another post as to why I love football!

Anyway, for those of you who might have missed the match last night, here’s what happened.

Before the match started, Wigan and Blackburn were 20th and 19th in the table respectively, and hence this was dubbed as a classic relegation 6 pointer. Wigan being the hosts had the added pressure even though Blackburn manager Steve Kean’s job was more in danger .

Wigan 0 – 1 Blackburn

Before we could even take our seats, at 68 seconds, Yakubu lobbed the ball into the net to score, thus putting Blackburn ahead.

Wigan 1 – 1 Blackburn

The lead didn’t last long as in the 7th minute, Jordi Gomez fired from 20 yards to bring Wigan back on level terms.

Wigan 2 – 1 Blackburn

Captain Gary Caldwell nodded Wigan ahead on 31 minutes via a header from a corner .

Red Card, Blackburn

For a second yellow Blackburn midfielder David Dunn was sent off in the 48th minute. With a goal and a man down and 42 minutes left to play, things did not look good for Blackburn .

Wigan 2 – 2 Blackburn

The most controversial moment of the match, as Pederson seemed to dribble the ball straight from the corner for a cross from which Hoilett scored. Replays clearly showed that Pederson played the ball to himself on the corner, the kind of stuff we do in school and it was an illegal corner. However the referee let the goal stand.

Wigan 3 – 2 Blackburn

It felt only fair after the referee’s blunder for Blackburn’s second that Crusat put Wigan ahead again, and this time in the 89th minute! The match was surely in the bag now, wasn’t it ?

Penalty to Blackburn

How many times have we seen when the losing team gets a corner kick in the dying seconds of the match their keeper comes forward for the header. Have we ever seen this tactic succeed? Almost never. Well things changed last night. In the 7th minute of injury time, Blackburn were awarded a corner, for which their keeper Paul Robinson came forward. And believe it or not, he was fouled in the box as he got a boot to his head and the penalty was awarded. Yakubu converted penalty successfully in the 98th minute, thus culminating an extraordinarily thrilling match.

FINAL SCORE : WIGAN 3 – 3 BLACKBURN

A classic, wasn’t it? I am glad that I decided to watch this match over the City Newcastle match. It is thrilling encounters like this which throw predictions out of the window and enthrall that make me love football and its relegation battles.

Also read Reasons why I love football #1 and #2