It’s a bit odd having an away trip that’s easier to get to than a United home game. Being able to walk to the game, and home afterwards has me hoping that the Latics avoid relegation this season…that and the fact that I know quite a few decent Latics fans.
Being able to show a few travelling Reds around town, avoiding taking them to the packed places that the rest of the United fans had been herded to was also a bit of a bonus of the shortest football trip I’ll probably ever take. It’s a good though to not have the worry of being in a strange town and not knowing where you’re going as with other aways. Actually it’s not, that’s one of the good things about following United away, turning up to a town you’ve never been to and trying to find your way.
We have a brief walk down the canal to get to the DW stadium and into the away end. There’s a decent atmosphere in the North stand (Wigan being one of the teams that give us a decent away allocation – save for the issues this season) and the United fans are in full voice.
There’s an air of confidence about the game given United’s dominance in the fixtures vs Wigan, but then again these records are always there to be broken, and United certainly can’t afford to slip up in our pursuit of a record breaking 19th title. The game begins and United don’t start very well, Van Der Sar stopping Wigan taking the lead on a few occasions (if only he could play on and on!) and Vidic clearing everything that came near him.
The air of confidence amongst the away end grew to a sense of frustration, as in most cases away from Old Trafford this season, United struggle to impose themselves on the game and to get any rhythm together. But then the game changes in a flash as Hernandez again pops up to snatch a goal. He may sometimes be on the edge of the game but there’s always a feeling amongst The Faithful that he can snatch us an important goal. A feeling backed up when he raced clear to put United 2-0 up in front of the travelling Red Army in the second half. There’s still an element of surprise in just how well Chicharito has performed this season, a relative unknown quantity at the start of the season, he’s grabbed some massively important goals this season.
The game ends, and I’d have to have extremely rose tinted glasses on to suggest United deserved to win 4-0, another tepid and flat performance made to look better by picking off a Wigan team that lost their impetus at 2-0.
Back into town after the game, to talk over the game, pull apart opinions, and over-analyse every performance this season…or so we seem to think! The day rounded off nicely by being able to get home in a 5 minute walk.
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