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Afternoon to four-get for Latics
Aruna Dindane smashed a hat-trick and Frederic Piquionne grabbed the other as Wigan Athletic crashed 4-0 at Portsmouth.
The writing had been on the wall from the very first minute, when Kevin-Prince Boateng danced through and fired just over Chris Kirkland's goal.
Moments later, Hassan Yebda was inches away from connecting with Jamie O'Hara's cross, and the Latics defence were looking stretched every time Pompey advanced.
After seeing Pompey send another couple of shots high and wide, Wigan had a bigger scare on 18 minutes when Hugo Rodallega over-ran the ball down the left and, in trying to get his cross in, flew over the advertising hoarding and into the cheap seats behind David James' goal.
Thankfully, after a couple of minutes of treatment, the Colombian was able to continue, and received a more than generous ovation from the home end as well as the Wigan fans.
And that was about as good as it got on the positive news front.
Boateng drilled in a shot from the edge of the area that produced a fine block by Emmerson Boyce, Dindane headed well over from six yards, and Boateng fired over before Piquionne's shot was saved at the second attempt by Kirkland.
Having enjoyed a charmed life, the Wigan rearguard was eventually breached on 35 minutes – although the visitors were left fuming at the manner in which it came about.
Scott Sinclair was clearly fouled by O'Hara as Latics tried to break on halfway, but referee Alan Wiley thought otherwise, allowing Michael Brown to thread through a lovely ball for Dindane to slip over Kirkland.
Shortly after, Wigan were incensed again when Rodallega scooted clear down the left only to be felled by Boateng, Wiley amazingly again waving play on.
And the visitors' mood would hardly have been helped deep into added-on time when Dindane fed Piquionne, with Kirkland again powerless to keep out the shot.
If Roberto Martinez had wanted a reaction from his troops after the break, it was not immediately apparent as Piquionne found himself in acres of space within a minute of the restart and only a timely challenge from Titus Bramble snuffed out the danger.
Rodallega saw a drive deflected behind moments later, but Pompey almost found a third goal when Dindane's shot was deflected just wide by Bramble.
Kirkland made a decent save from O'Hara's free kick, before Martinez threw on Olivier Kapo and Jordi Gomez for Scharner and Rodallega.
Kapo almost made a dramatic entrance, firing just wide within seconds of coming on, before Pompey nipped any hope of a comeback in the bud on 65 minutes, when Kanu's cross found Dindane unmarked only four yards out.
Midway through the half, Charles N'Zogbia played a lovely one-two with Kapo before smashing a shot over the bar – and David James waited patiently for his first meaningful touch.
He got it moments later, when Kapo's shot was superbly blocked by Tal Ben Haim into the path of Sinclair, who forced the England goalkeeper into a regulation save.
Wigan's day was summed up two minutes from time when Kanu skipped into the box and, after minimal contact from Boyce, took a tumble, Wiley pointing to the spot before being surrounded by an orange army of protesters.
Dindane duly sent Kirkland the wrong way, and Younes Kaboul was only inches away from making it five in stoppage time with a daisy-cutter of a free kick that Kirkland would have struggled to intercept had it been on target.
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Weather for Wigan
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 14 C to 25 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: West
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 25 C
Wind Speed: 23 mph
Wind direction: East
