Pascal Chimbonda’s header deep into injury-time earned Wigan their seventh straight win over Fulham this afternoon. The French defender guided home Graham Kavanagh’s cross to steal victory against the Londoners, who had largely dominated the contest.
Chris Coleman launched a furious attack on referee Andre Marriner, who failed to spot John Filan’s handball outside the box and waved away Fulham appeals for a penalty. The visitors had the better of proceedings with Tomasz Radzinski and Steed Malbranque coming extremely close to opening the scoring inside the first four minutes. Papa Bouba Diop’s looping header ended up on the roof of the net before Marriner’s decisions took centre stage.
Filan charged out of his area to tackle striker Collins John but the Dutch forward’s shot clearly struck the goalkeeper’s hand after bouncing off his knee. Referee Marriner didn’t even give a free-kick and Coleman’s mood was hardly helped when the official booked Moritz Volz for diving after he been clearly caught by Alan Mahon.
Wigan improved after the break with the recently introduced Andreas Johansson heading over Ryan Taylor’s cross and Henri Camara lashing into the side netting after beating both Bocanegra and Warner. But Paul Jewell’s men won it in stoppage time when full-back Chimbonda, one of their stars of the season, punished some poor marking to head home.
WIGAN ATHLETIC (4-5-1): Filan; Chimbonda, Henchoz, De Zeeuw, Baines (McMillan 74); Taylor, Kavanagh, Francis, Mahon (Johansson 62), Bullard (Teale 84); Camara. Subs (not used): Pollitt, Jackson.
BOOKED: Kavanagh.
GOAL: Chimbonda (90).
FULHJAM (4-4-2): Warner; Volz, N. Jensen, Bocanegra (Rosenior 90), Goma; Diop, C. Jensen (Elrich 82), Malbranque, Boa Morte; John (McBride 82), Radzinski. Subs (not used): Batista, Helguson.
BOOKED: Volz.
REFEREE: Andre Marriner (West Midlands).
ATTENDANCE: 17,266
