The first half was very poor in truth, especially our performance which was not up to standard. Kanu had a potshot early on but it would be fair to say that Wigan had the better of the first 45 minutes and Henri Camara, who was believed to be injured could have put the visitors ahead after being allowed to turn in the box but his shot went over.
Our midfield struggled to get into the game and when they did get the ball, they carelessly gave it away too often. Thankfully, our defence were on form and limited Wigan in the first half, with Camara and Heskey kept relatively quiet by the back four. It was good to get in at half-time at 0-0, as if the game had continued in that pattern we were never going to win it.
Thankfully, we were much improved in the second half and in difficult games like this it's likely that it will be won by a solitary goal. So when Sol Campbell headed a Wigan ball away into the path of Benjani who outpaced the two Wigan centre backs and slammed it onto the post and into the net, you could imagine the cheer and the sense of relief that went around the ground.
The goal on 49 minutes lifted Pompey and we were more competitive in midfield. I have to say that Sean Davis is an unsung hero in the centre at times. His physical style gave us more of an edge in the second half when the other midfielders around him weren't doing so great. Mendes tried hard and was OK but Gary O'Neil had a mere today and today has to go down as one of his worse Pompey performances to date. He gave the ball away far too often today and was over-ran by the Wigan midfield, not that the referee helped him or any of our players for that matter. All the 50/50 decisions went in Wigan's favour.
Kanu and Benjani worked hard with what little service they had, Benjani especially who was the difference in quality between the two front men of either team today. It was the defence that impressed me again though, they dug in and made sure Wigan didn't get any clear shots on goal. Glen Johnson was a bit guilty of over-playing it at times but he got forward well when he could. Stefanovic continues to do a very solid job at left back and when he went off injured Noe Pamarot came on and filled in well, though he made a couple of mistakes he was quick to rectify them and nullified Valencia to a degree who was probably Wigan's best player on the day.
Sol Campbell generally did well against Heskey and didn't give him much ground but there was only one clear man of the match and that was Sir Linvoy Primus who once again excelled in the centre of defence. In a tough game, he was an assured performer who won many important headers and read and intercepted some dangerous looking passes from the lively Wigan midfield. Harry would be insane to drop him now for sure!
In fact, Harry would be insane to drop any of the defenders at the moment. They are playing very well as a unit and even towards the end when there were some nervy moments from David James, the defence were there to help him out and pick up the pieces. Lua Lua came on towards the end of the game and provided an instant threat. He could have had two goals late on but one of his shots hit the post whilst the other was well saved by Kirkland. There's still an air of selfishness in his game though, and he needs to eradicate that and become more of a team player. On another day his saved shot could have resulted in a Wigan counter-attack and cost us the game.
Wigan did pressurise us towards the end of the game and put balls into the box which resulted in the occasional heart-in-mouth moment as David James would attempt to punch clear but completely miss the ball. Thankfully as previously mentioned there were enough bodies back to get it away. In previous seasons there would be no question that the pressure would have got to us late on and Wigan would have got the equaliser their play might have deserved.
In summary, what was said by the media and bookies to be a banker home win, never turned out to be as Wigan played well in the first half whilst we were lethargic. The second half was better because we competed more and did well to shut out Wigan's attack whilst creating some chances of our own. If we had lost this game then everyone would be saying how crap we were and how different we looked compared to the other three games we have played. However, the sign of a great team is one that plays badly and still wins and that would sum up our performance today as we were nowhere near our best and it has taken a flash of quality to steal all three points.
So.... we're still second in the league with ten points already. How long did it take us to get that amount last season? Too long that's for sure! All I know is that it took us 'til mid-December to get beyond that total whereas if we avoid defeat to Charlton next week we would have surpassed ten points in five games! We're still yet to concede a goal too which would have been unthinkable at the start of the season which just goes to show how much we've improved at the back as well as the increase in work ethic in the team that simply didn't exist under Alain Perrin.
We're still yet to see any of the new signings in action so there's more potential in this football club yet but as long as we're winning then nobody can complain too much, even if we get games like todays was. I wonder, just how far can we go this season?