THE GAME
Luke Thomas in the thick of the action
Although they began brightly Rovers faded after the opening 15 minutes and the visitors took full advantage, scoring four goals without reply in the process.
Josh Griffiths saved an early effort from Dion Rankin, but there was no hint of the horror show to come as Rovers continued to work hard to break the deadlock.
Wigan took the lead on 20 minutes when Joe Hughill forced the ball over the line from close range following Rovers failure to clear a corner from the right.
The Manchester United loanee could hardly believe his luck when, 20 minutes later, Rovers again failed to clear a corner allowing both him and Jensen Weir shooting opportunituies before Hughill once again scored from close range.
Within five minutes of the start of the second half Wigan scored again after Griffiths fumbled a cross from Silko Thomas, allowing Thelo Aasgaard the simple chance of rolling the ball into an unguarded net.
It came as little surprise when the visitors added a fourth goal when Luke Chambers took Griffiths by surprise with a free kick from out on the right and found the bottom corner of the net with the shot stopper unable to get near the ball.
It got worse for Rovers as, to complete a miserable afternoon, Taylor Moore was red carded for a feigned head butt on Maleace Asamoah Jr. He stopped short of making contact with the Wigan substitute who fell to the floor in stages, but referee Scott Jackson had no alternative but to send off the Rovers defender.
THEY SAID WHAT?
‘We’re in a lot of pain. It was a relatively bright start from both teams, then set pieces and a couple of counter attacks went against us. It just totally derailed us.
‘Then we saw a side to ourselves that we didn’t like and we lost our understanding of the game. Even at half time, when we changed shape, we just couldn’t quite connect the team to what was needed to get any element of control. We had no control in any unit, personnel, or position, on that pitch.
‘We tried as hard as we possibly could to regroup and reset after making a couple of half time changes, but the two goals we conceded turned it into a really painful second half.’ (Rovers manager Matt Taylor)
‘The changing room is really down at the moment. It’s really frustrating. We started the game quite well and were on the front foot. We then conceded from two set pieces and a third in the second half. It was a tough afternoon.
James Wilson gets in a block
‘We didn’t defend set pieces well enough. If we had defended the three of them better than we did, the other goal was a mistake. they didn’t create a goal from open play and that’s not good enough.
‘The group is really hungry to be successful. None of these boys have really been in this position before, so they will learn as they go. Hopefully, we’ll get on a little run and gain confidence. That will be the main thing.’ (Rovers skipper James Wilson
‘Joe (Hughill) is a very good finisher, but whatever the level he’s hoping to reach, there should be no celinng that I’m going to put on him. He’s got lots of attributes and the two goals will have put him on cloud nine because I know, from experience, that this performance will give him a lift.
‘But he will have to keep his feet on the ground, work hard and go again, because there’s plenty of competition for places up front.’ (Wigan manager Shaun Maloney)