Manchester City versus Wigan Athletic – English Premier League: Second half report (Part 2)

In the 65^th minute of the match, Manchester City moved in for the kill once more as the ball fell to Mario Balotelli inside the Wigan Athletic penalty area. However, the Italian striker’s pass inside Wigan’s six yard box was cleared by James McCarthy as the home support appealed for a hand ball by the Wigan midfielder. The replays clearly showed that McCarthy had headed the ball away rather than handling it with his arms.

Manchester City introduced Alexandre Kolarov into the match in the 68^th minute as Mario Balotelli made way for the Lazio midfielder. Wigan also responded with a substitution of their own as Lopez was replaced by Steve Gohouri on the left hand side of the Latics’ defense.

In the 71^st minute of the match, Wigan embarked on a good spell of possession but the ball was given away by Figueroa as Vieira led Manchester City on a counter attack. The Frenchman fired the ball wide to Kolarov who tried to find Carlos Tevez inside the Wigan penalty area but his cross was intercepted as Wigan Athletic regained control of the ball.

In the 76^th minute of the match, Gary Caldwell’s marvelous block denied Manchester City their second goal of the match as the Scotsman launched himself at David Silva’s shot from the left hand side of Wigan’s penalty area. It was a well hit effort by the Spanish midfielder but Caldwell timed his block perfectly to keep his team in the match.

The 80^th minute of the match saw Manchester City regaining control of the ball, thanks to a wayward touch by James McCarthy, as Yaya Toure marched up field for the Blues. However, the Ivorian midfielder was tackled by Figueroa and the ball went out of play for a corner kick.

The ensuing set piece was taken by Kolarov. The full back played a short pass to Silva whose whipped in cross inside the Wigan penalty area was easily gathered in by Al Habsi.

Wigan threatened to equalize through Charles N’Zogbia in the 82^nd minute but his shot from outside the Manchester City penalty area went well wide off the mark.

In the 84^th minute of the match, both teams made their second change of the match as David Silva came off and Nigel de Jong came in for Manchester City. On the other hand, Connor Sammon replaced Mohammad Diame for Wigan Athletic.

City soon made their third substitution of the night as well as Carlos Tevez made way for Edin Dzeko in the 86^th minute. Finally the match came to a halt with a win for Manchester City as the final score rested at 1-0 to the home side, Manchester City.