I chose to listen to the home commentary on ifollow just to see things from another angle. For a start, they were really fair and not as one-eyed as one might expect. Full of compliments for our play in the period up to the goal, you could hear in their voices how they expected nothing out of the game.
How it all changed! That goal seemed to deflate us more than should be expected. One chance: one goal. How we would love that scenario! Perhaps it was that particular reason that seemed to have such a negative effect on us. We had played “beautiful football” without ever looking dangerous in the last third. The Wigan commentary team remarked on this time and again.
Oh for a striker. I admire Harris, his effort, his runs, his work rate - but all this is to create chances for others. Harris himself is not really a natural goalscorer (whatever that is) and it’s clear he’s not going to be a major source of goals. We will rely on the advanced midfielders to score and at the moment they can’t.
O’Donker? Nope, NOT the answer. “One of our own”, yes. A goalscorer at this level? Absolutely not.
Manning has done a great job so far, but now he’s going to have to get us through the next couple of months without losing too much ground to the likes of Derby, Barnsley and Bolton. It won’t be easy.