I believe it was Bob Dylan who once sang, “How many times must a man play Wigan, before you call him a man?”
Or something like that.
Even if I am paraphrasing the great BD a little bit, being a football-man he would have understood my frustrations in this month’s FMD.
After all, his song ‘I Shall Be Free No.10′ was inspired by Wayne Rooney’s move into midfield for Manchester United.
Aside from the beautiful game, Dylan is all about sticking it to the man, a personality trait shared by this young maverick.
In truth though, all I’ve wanted to do recently is stick it to Wigan.
When I left you last, a post-2014 upturn in form had Ipswich back in the top six and through to the fourth round of the FA Cup.
Drawn at home to the Latics, I was already dreaming of a glamour tie in the next stage when good, old Dave McGoldrick and little curly-bonce himself Stephen Hunt had us 2-0 up going into half-time.
But as we’ve done soooooo many times this season, we blew it. Two late goals had Wigan wriggling into the hat and a replay scheduled for the following week. The reward for the winners was a home tie with West Ham, but before all of that, a trip to Brighton on league duty.
Our unbeaten run had to end sometime, but the way we rolled over like an excitable dog to a kind stranger in allowing the Seagulls to coast to a win was disappointing. Outplayed and 2-0 down, at least Dave bagged a consolation to add a bit of pride to the scoreline.
With the transfer window about to slam shut with Jim-White swagger, I felt like blowing a wad of cash. With Daryl Murphy and Atdhe Nuhiu failing to prove successful long-term partners for McGoldrick, and Conor Sammon purely a novelty character, I felt more firepower was required in order to make the play-offs. Step up Tokelo Rantie, signed for £1.4m from Bournemouth.
Fresh from African Nations duty, I threw Rantie straight in against, you guessed it, Wigan. It wasn’t quite the replay yet though, instead we faced-off in the Championship.
To accommodate the new boy, I decided to try a different system. 4-4-2 is so 1999 and as my man Bobby D also said, “The times they are a-changing.” Enter a 3-5-2 with Jack Grealish in the hole and Rantie as a false nine.
It certainly made a difference, we dominated from the first moment to the last. Peppering the Wigan goal, Jay Tabb fired us ahead and we could have easily had five more before the break. Yet somehow, with 20 minutes left, lumbering opposition centre-half Gary Caldwell smashed home a 25-yard free-kick to make it 1-1.
Gary. Caldwell.
But I don’t pay £1.4m for any old rubbish and Rantie bagged a debut strike as we retook the lead. Against the run of play once again though, Wigan equalised. A minute later, Dave made it 3-2.
Surely that was that?
Alas, Tabb had other ideas, a square ball in his own box straight to Andy Delort who won’t score an easier virtual goal in his whole career. 3-3 and Wigan were really starting to cheese me off.
So it was refreshing to see my next game was the replay. At Wigan.
Finally though, those pesky Latics found a lead too difficult to claw-back, McGoldrick hitting the winner in a proper yawnfest. Perhaps the 3-3 tired everyone out, or perhaps everyone was just bored of everyone. I didn’t care, we had a date booked with West Ham.
With the 3-5-2 still blossoming, Rantie and Dave were looking every bit a match made in heaven. Both scored to clinch a 2-0 victory away at struggling Rotherham.
Next up, Sheffield Wednesday at Portman Road. Rantie did it again to bag his third in a Blue shirt and deadly Dave scored a penalty with 15 minutes to go. In the bag.
Not quite, we just love throwing away two points. Wednesday pulled one back with two to go and things got even better when Elliott Hewitt conceded a 93rd minute penalty. 2-2 draw and down to 7th.
All in all though, I didn’t really mind. I was just relieved that it would be at least another eight months until I had to play Wigan again.
Note to Wigan – please don’t make the play-offs…
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