Any Previous? Gillingham v Latics

 Looking ahead to Saturday’s League 1 clash between the Latics and Gillingham, we have met 38 times previously and we are quite evenly matched with 15 wins, 16 defeats and 7 draws.

 

Down the years the two clubs have had some great tussles, two that definitely stand out for me are the 1987 FA Cup 3^rd tie at Springfield Park and the 2000 playoff final at Wembley.

 

The FA cup tie was a bitterly cold day, 19^th January, in front of a hardy 3,549 fans. I vividly remember the Gils starman, Tony Cascarino not only wearing gloves, but also black tights, just one look and you could tell he didn’t fancy it. Goals from Chris Thompson and Bobby Campbell gave the Latics a 2-1 win over their 3^rd Division rivals and saw us march onto a 4^th round tie against top flight Norwich City.

 

The 2000 playoff final at Wembley was a game packed with incident and drama, we had a legitimate goal from Arry De Zeeuw ruled out for not crossing the line, it was clearly 2 yards over, Latics had also hit the bar when a close range effort from Simon Howarth smacked the woodwork.

 

Carl Asaba had put Gillingham ahead, despite the Latics dominance, Simon Howarth equalised with a delightful flick and the game headed for extra time, but not before Latics left back Kevin Sharp was sent off in the dying embers of the 90 minutes.

 

Extra time, even with 10 men the Latics looked the most likely to score, and they did, Darren Sheridan was upended in the box, substitute Stuart Barlow stepped up and crashed home to give us the lead and looking likely to win the game, unfortunately two late efforts put paid to that and Gillingham ran out 3:2 winners on the day, but what a great game and occasion it was. 

 

Last season the Gills competed the double over us, 2:3 at the DW in September and a 1:0 win at the Priestfield Stadium at the end of March, though how we didn’t get something out of that game I’ll never know.

 

Featured Game

The last time we won at Gillingham was back in April 2004, a crowd of 7,410 witnessed goals from Nathanhan Ellington, Jason Roberts and Alan Mahon securing a 0:3 win for Paul Jewell’s 4th placed side.

 

Highlights – Gillingham 0:3 Latics

 

 

Full Record v Gillingham

Played – 38

Won – 15

Drawn – 7

Lost – 16

 

Last Six Meetings

Date	Competition	Result
31 Mar 2001	League 1	Gillingham 1:0 Latics
19 Sep 2020	League 1	Latics 2:3 Gillingham
03 Feb 2018	League 1	Latics 2:0 Gillingham
17 Oct 2017	League 1	Gillingham 1:1 Latics
07 Jan 2016	League 1	Latics 3:2 Gillingham
22 Aug 2015	League 1	Gillingham 2:0 Latics

Meet The Ref - Gillingham v Latics

 

Neil Hair

Latics travel down to the Priestfiled Stadium on Saturday to face Gillingham in a League 1 fixture, Peterborough referee, Neil Hair will take charge of this game.

 

The 40 year old will be taking charge of his first Latics game this weekend, he progressed through the ranks of the lower league and was promoted onto the National List ahead of the 2018/19 season.

 

Hair had two seasons at Conference level, culminating with the National League play off final between Boreham Wood and Tranmere at Wembley, in May 2018. Just 47 seconds into the game Neil Hair showed his bottle by sending off Tranmere defender Liam Ridehalgh for serious foul play, a decision described as “both brave and correct”, Tranmere went on to win the game 2:1 and subsequently followed Hair into the Football League.

 

This will be the Peterborough ref’s seventh Gillingham game, two of which came last season, a 2:0 defeat away at MK Dons and a home win over Swindon by the same scoreline.

 

Neil Hair’s last game was Tuesday night’s 1:1 draw between Plymouth and Crewe at Home Park, he booked six players, three for each side.

 

Nail Hair Card Watch 2021/22

Games – 8

Yellows – 22

Reds – 0

Penalty Awards - 3

 

Gillingham v Wigan Athletic
Referee – Neil Hair
Assistants – Darren Blunden and Andy Bennett
Fourth Official – Andy Aylott

Any Previous? Latics v Sheffield Wednesday

Latics entertain Sheffield Wednesday at the DW Stadium on Tuesday as we look to continue our great run of form.

 

We have met the Owls on 12 occasions previously with none of those fixtures producing a draw, 5 wins and 7 defeats for the Latics.

 

Our first two meetings both came in the FA cup and the Latics were a Northern Premier League club at the time, in December 1975 we went down 2-0 at Hillsborough a 2^nd round tie in front of 12,436 spectators, two years later in ‘77 we met again at the same stage of the competition, this time at Springfield Park, a goal from local lad Maurice Whittle settled the game in Latics favour 1-0, a healthy attendance of 13,873 saw us progress past Jackie Charlton’s Wednesday onto the 3^rd round where we came up against Birmingham City managed by Sir Alf Ramsey, that cup run went a long way to securing favour amongst the Full Member clubs of the Football League on our way to election in the following June.

 

All other meetings between the two clubs have come in the Championship.

 

Standout Game

4^th August 2018, first game of the season, newly promoted Latics faced Wednesday at the DW Stadium, a highly entertaining game finished 3:2 in our favour, 2 goals from Michael Jacobs and a Nick Powell effort gave the Latics the points despite a late flourish from the visitors, a game played in glorious sunshine in front of 14,207 fans. Both Reece James and Antonee Robinson made their Latics debuts in this game, whatever happened to them?

 

Highlights Latics 3:2 Sheffield Wednesday

 

 

Full Record v Sheffield Wednesday

Played – 12

Won – 5

Drawn – 0

Lost – 7

 

Last Six Meetings

Date	Competition	Result
28 Jan 2020	Championship	Latics 2:1 Sheffield Wednesday
05 Oct 2019	Championship	Sheffield Wednesday 1:0 Latics
19 Jan 2019	Championship	Sheffield Wednesday 1:0 Latics
04 Aug 2018	Championship	Latics 3:2 Sheffield Wednesday
03 Feb 2017	Championship	Latics 0:1 Sheffield Wednesday
10 Sep 2016	Championship	Sheffield Wednesday 2:1 Latics

 

Meet The Ref - Latics v Sheffield Wednesday

 Latics are back at the DW Stadium on Tuesday when Sheffield Wednesday will be the visitors, West Riding referee, Sam Barrott will take charge of this game.

 

Sam Barrott

This is Barrott’s second season on the National List of referees having been promoted from the National League in 2019/20.

 

He’s taken charge of two game involving the Latics both coming last season, our Football League Trophy defeat 1:3 to Port Vale at the DW Stadium in October and our epic away win at Burton Albion in late December when a Kyle Joseph hat-trick and a Will Keane goal saw us take the three points in a pulsating game that finished 3:4. Barrott didn’t produce a single card in either game.

 

This will be the Yorkshireman’s first Sheffield Wednesday game.

 

Barrott became a referee due to an injury playing football for Halifax Town Youth Team, his injury left him unable to do contact sport for 9 months. His granddad advised him to take the referee’s course whilst he was out injured and the rest, as they say, is history.

 

He cites both Bobby and Andy Madley as his role models.

 

Last Game Barrott was due to take charge of the Hartlepool v Exeter game on Saturday but was pulled at the last minute, he refereed the one all draw between Lincoln and Rotherham on Tuesday, issuing 3 yellows (1-2). 

 

Sam Barrott Latics Games

Date	Competition	Result	Latics Cards
06 Oct 2020	EFL Trophy	Latics 1:3 Port Vale	0
29 Dec 2020	League 1	Burton Albion 3:4 Latics	0

This referee has a Latics Love Factor of 50%

 

Sam Barrott  Card Watch 2021/22

Games – 9

Yellows – 33

Reds – 0

Penalty Awards - 1

 

Wigan Athletic v Sheffield Wednesday
Referee – Sam Barrott
Assistants – Ollie Williams and Billy Smallwood
Fourth Official – Scott Oldham