Ryan Taylor's two goals won the game for Wigan, and Blues weren't helped by Damien Johnson's first half dismissal for a reckless challenge on Kevin Kilbane.
We all have computers. Some of you will be reading this on a computer. Well, on that computer, you'll probably have an icon for the Recycle Bin towards the top left of your desktop. Basically, Wigan is the Recycle Bin of England. Everyone knows it's there, towards the top left of the map, but no one's too sure exactly what the point of it is, and no one really bothers with it. It's up there alongside the likes of Liverpool (Internet Explorer) and Manchester (My Computer) which clearly serve a purpose, and it just gets overlooked and ignored by keeping such company up in the top left of the map/desktop. It's where things that were useful once but no longer serve any purpose live - like the pier, the rugby team and Starsailor. Once in a blue moon you almost accidentally delve in, and when you do so, you find programs that were once useful, but aren't much cop anymore (Marcus Bent) and operating systems that you used to trust, but got outdated and began to underperform (Steve Bruce), plus files that always seem to have been around, but you're not really sure why (Mike Pollitt). Oh, and junk (Titus Bramble). Then you vow not to return unless it's absolutely necessary.
That Blues took a following of 5,000 fans to the land that time forgot was impressive. Two years ago, Blues were involved in a relegation battle and went to Wigan on Grand National day and were followed by, at a guess, no more than about 1,500 fans. This time, on the same day, there were many, many more. The Steve Bruce factor probably played a part, but it was also possibly a reflection of the fans taking to Alex McLeish's "new Blues". Well, the "new Blues" looked frighteningly like the old Blues. Let's pull no punches - Blues were abysmal.
Franck Queudrue's suspension meant a return for Martin Taylor at the heart of the Blues defence. Otherwise the side was the same as that which had beaten Manchester City last week. Taylor received a tremenous ovation from the travelling fans after Eduardo-gate.
The game started scrapily, but soon began to develop. Bruce was often criticised for his brand of "hoofball" during his time at St Andrews - particularly during the last few seasons. Well, there was only one team playing "hoofball" at the JJB Stadium, and it was the time Bruce had left behind. His Wigan side got the ball down (which was no easy feat on a pitch that is generally accepted around the county as being a ploughed field), used their midfield, got their wide players (Antonio Valencia and Ryan Taylor) into the game on plenty of occasions, and basically pummelled Blues for 90 minutes. Sometimes I'll be a little bit biased and say that a Blues defeat was unlucky. This one was lucky - it could have been a lot, lot more.
Wigan's first goal came from a standard Martin Taylor error. Trying to be clever, trying to play football and neglecting the basics of common-sense defending. Heaven forbid seeing him and Liam Ridgewell start a game together. Taylor's attempted ball up the line was intercepted by Wigan, Blues were all over the place, Valencia picked out Taylor and Taylor picked out the back of another Taylor's net because of the mistake by another Taylor. (I might just call all the players Taylor for this game.) Yes, we all feel sorry for Martin Taylor because of what happened with Eduardo, but we've all known for a long time that he's not good enough, and he shouldn't have been playing. I'd have picked Rafael Schmitz, personally, although the argument for Stephen Kelly to continue at centre half with Stuart Parnaby coming in at right back was equally as strong. However, whether sentiment played a part in the decision, and whether it was a case of trying to exorcise Taylor's demons by throwing him back in, it backfired. He was at fault for the crucial opening goal, and he was generally poor otherwise. Not that he was alone, but he shouldn't have played, and he shouldn't play again. Sympathy because of the Eduardo thing is one thing, but that shouldn't blinker people's views of him as a Premier League defender.
Damien Johnson's sending off didn't help, and it was a bit of a moment of stupidity from the captain. We know what he's like though, and you could see that it was borne out of frustration. In the few minutes leading upto his sending off by Mike Dean, he'd clattered into people and accepted the award of a free-kick against him almost to say to his team-mates "Come on!, Let's get into them!" Those around him had been tentative and passionless, and in some ways the challenge was almost one to try and get everyone going. It failed, and it was stupid, but given the performance of those around him, it was also understandable. It was one of Johnson's classic "I know it's a red card" sending offs too. He'd removed the armband and was passing it on as Mike Dean went to his pocket.
Blues continued to be poor. Very, very poor. But for a Mauro Zarate effort just before half-time, they'd done absolutely nothing. No creativity, no passion. Nothing. It was awful.
The second half? Well, it was no better and barely merits a mention, to be honest. Mikael Forssell was very poor, as he has been for the past couple of weeks and Seb Larsson was completely ineffective. Gary McSheffrey doesn't deserve his name mentioned in a report of the game, except to say that he was utterly appalling, yet again. For the first time, his removal from the game was greeted by ironic cheers and applause from some Blues fans. I'm surprised it's taken this long, in all honesty. In fact, I can't think of anyone to say anything remotely positive about, with perhaps the exception of Zarate who at least kept going and tried to make things happen. More often that not they didn't come off, but he kept going.
As for the football played, well, it was embarrassingly bad. Maik Taylor finally found some consistency with his kicking and found an unerring ability to find Paul Scharner's head with every kick, and most of his defence followed suit. Scharner, incidentally, was magnificent, and if there's any justice in football, he'll playing for a proper football club next season, and not Wigan. I often mock other clubs and their small crowds, etc (and realise that Blues haven't exactly been setting attendance records this season), but if any club deserves to be removed from the Premier League on the basis that they contribute nothing whatsoever, it's Wigan. If they were relegated back to the Conference which is where they belong, no one would bat an eyelid. In some ways they are the MK Dons of the Premier League, as they have simply bought their right to be there and taken it away from a more deserving club. Springfield Park when Blues had three sides of the ground and Wigan had one springs to mind, and even now that they're amongst the elite, you could still say the same. They should have restricted the Wigan fans to one stand down the side (if they could have filled it) and let Blues have the rest.
Anyway, there's no getting away from the fact that this was an abysmal performance in front of the best away following (by some distance) of the season. The Blues fans were very, very loud at kick-off, so it took a fine effort by their side to silence them, but they managed it. The other crumbs of comfort or positives came from Villa Park and Craven Cottage, where Bolton took such a beating that Blues actually improved their position goal difference wise, and where Fulham appear to have had the final nail hammered into their coffin now. Blues will probably manage to engineer a get out clause for them when we're down there on the penultimate weekend of the season, however.
As for Steve Bruce, well, apart from one song encouraging him to "give us a wave", he was given a quiet afternoon by the Blues fans (apart from one or two small songs he probably didn't hear as they were sung by about 30 people). As for his team, well, they played very, very well and totally deserved their win. They played good football with plenty of pace and power and no little ability. Blues got what they deserved out of the game. Absolutely nothing.