FOOTBALL: Latics roll on

JASON ROBERTS struck twice in the second half to sentence Plymouth to defeat at Home Park, and keep Wigan on top of the Championship table.

Roberts, Wigan's record pounds 1.4 million signing from West Brom last season took his tally for this campaign to ten, but 14,000 fans at the game will long remember the goal that escaped him.

Roberts missed one opportunity half an hour into the first that will surely be a candidate for a the miss of the season, if not the century, to date.

The kick-off at Home Park was delayed for 30 minutes after an emergency alarm was triggered in the stands an hour before the start leaving thousands of fans milling around outside the ground in pouring rain.

Consolation could have arrived for the Plymouth faithful within three minutes of the game getting underway.

A delicate chip from fullback David Worrell put Stevie Crawford clear and while his low shot was blocked by John Filan, David Norris was only just off target as he seized on the rebound.

But Wigan's instant response reflected their early season climb up the Championship. Within two minutes Ian Breckin had crashed a header into the Plymouth side netting and Jimmy Bullard fired a low shot across the face of goal.

The speed of Wigan's twin strikers Nathan Ellington and Jason Roberts posed a constant threat on the break, and midway through the first half both Mat Doumbe and Graham Coughlan were booked for last- ditch but reckless tackles.

But on the half-hour the strike force that had produced 16 goals in the League already this season was involved in a squandered opportunity of real vintage.

Ellington's cross was deflected off the boot of David Worrell, and the ball looped over the head of the stranded Romain Larrieu.

With Roberts waiting at the far post unmarked and barely two yards from goal-line a Wigan lead appeared a formality but somehow the striker could only hit the woodwork with his header.

Plymouth, after wasting several teasing crosses from Norris on the right, also went close just before the interval when Crawford escaped the skin-tight attention of Breckin.

Finding himself in space on the 18-yard line Crawford hit a hasty left-foot shot wide of the target when he had time on his side to pick his spot.

After the break, Plymouth were made to pay dearly for not making the most of the few opportunities that came their way, as Robert found the net twice in a quarter of an hour.

There was a touch of real class about the way he latched onto Ellington's head-flick to place his shot wide of Romain Larrieu on 54 minutes.

But there was an element of fortune in his second as he got in the way of a shot from Wellington and diverted it past Larrieu off his chest.

Despite all the evidence pointing to Plymouth becoming the victims of a game dominated by Roberts, the Pilgrims refused to surrender lightly.

In a spirited final 20 minutes David Friio, last season's top scorer, was denied by a brilliant blocking save from Filan.

A tense final ten minutes was guaranteed when Crawford pulled a goal back with a close-range header after good work from Friio, but Wigan were not to be denied the points.

MAN OF THE MATCH

JASON ROBERTS

Recovered from blunder to hit double

PLYMOUTH: Larrieu 6, Connolly 5, Doumbe 5, Coughlan 5, Worrell 5 (Dixon 4), Friio 5, Makel 5, Norris 6 (Lasley 5), Adams 5, Crawford 6, Lowndes 5 (Evans 5).

WIGAN: Filan 7, Eaden 4 (Wright 5), Thome 6, Breckin 6, Baines 5, Graham 7, Bullard 7, McCulloch 5, Mahon 5, Ellington 6, ROBERTS 8.

MANAGERS: Williamson 5; Jewell 5

REFEREE: C Penton 6

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