City I felt for the first 30 mins were battling against a formidible opponent with neither side causing the keepers any grief. I've seen City dominate matches this season but for half an hour Wigan were giving as good as they got and both sides cancelled each other out.
Cardiff then moved into overdrive for the last 15 mins of the first half and put Wigan to the rack. Jerome capitalised on a slip by the Wigan defence and should have done better when through on goal, his attempt to centre the ball was the wrong choice when he should have smacked it past Filan.
McAnuff was the next to go clear, he had the more difficult chance but he again elected to cross rather than try to bury it.
For all the possession and pressure (we had several corners one after the other) we failed to test the keeper. I wish we'd practice shooting in training. We can't expect every goal to be a tap in.
After 45 mins City were on top and the pressure needed to be kept up but we never took the upper hand in the second half. Less than 10 mins in and we were a goal down. Wigan won possession and a quick cross into the box found Jason Roberts who headed past Alexander. That took any fight out of City. We never looked as threatening again despite forcing more corners. Again no spectacular shots at goal. Wigan wrapped up the points when Richard Langley was dispossessed, the Latics poured forward and Kavanagh had the chance to seal the win but he opted not to upset the City fans by squaring the ball for Alan Mahon to tap into the empty net.
City tried again to attack but as with previous efforts we were fairly clueless.
Gabbidon and Collins kept Ellington and Roberts quiet. Ormerod looked a more dangerous footballer and in midfield Kavanagh and Bullard were solid if not spectacular.
City came up a little short in midfield. Langley was not as influential as he could have been, Ardley got in some decent crosses but Thore and Jerome were nowhere near any of them. Collins looked more of a threat from set pieces.
City did get the ball into the net once in the second half. Cameron Jerome the scorer but the linesmans flag was up a long time before the ball went into the net. I was in the oppsite corner of the ground so could not judge if it was a fair call or not. I'd certainly seen the flag up so unlike many fans who thought we'd scored I remained seated when the ball went in.
Lee and Boulding came on as late subs but we had just as well have brought on Laurel and Hardy as they had little effect on the football match.
Graham Kavanagh received a big cheer pre match. He was boo'ed plenty during the game and when he was booked there were calls for him to be sent off.
At the final whistle the shirtless Kav acknowledged all parts of the ground. A massive Irish flag was unfurled in his honour by fans at the front of the Bob Bank. He was the last player to leave the pitch as was given a fine send off by the City supporters who were still in the ground (about 6,000 left when the second goal went in).
Other results weren't so bad. Forest lost, Crewe lost, Watford lost, Coventry lost and Brighton drew.
The big winners were Gillingham. I don't think they will go down. Let's hope we are safe by the time we have to go and play there.
Next up we go to Preston. That won't be easy but we may sneak a point and with the last relegation place just one point below us we may need it. Preston are in 4th place, probably too far behind to threaten an automatic promotion place but looking good for a play off place. Back to back wins for Plymouth (they beat Forest 3 - 0 today) has put them on 51 points. With the bottom teams still having to play each other I think they have done enough already to stay up.
5 games to go. It aint over yet.