PART TWO: Wigan Athletic: The 12th Man - 'Maybe this side is working out how to grind out results'

George Arkwright:

Oh the international break. Usually a time in which the football fans of the world stand on the bleak cliff faces...wistfully longing their lost loves return to them from the turbulent faraway climbs of a 0-0 vs Andorra in mid-November.

Not this time however. Whatever part of the United Kingdom you hailed from, the last fortnight of international football has been nothing short of sublime. England qualifying without fault, Scotland and Ireland finding rare and dramatic form, and Wales giving a minnow a drubbing. Lots of Goals. Heroes forged in the fires of conflict. Ally McCoist losing his mind at a halfway-line goal and turning up to work the next morning still half-cut.

I think we could all be forgiven for feeling buoyed and optimistic going back to the well-trodden paths of club football...maybe some magic had rubbed off, eh? That is how I felt at any rate, come 2.30pm on Saturday. Sodden, but confident. The heavens had opened and many of us had travelled a frankly ludicrous way down from Wigan to Wimbledon to watch the Wombles and the Latics face off.

What we lacked in geographic proximity, we made up for linguistically. Our line-up made for an interesting read. The arrivals of Tyrese Francoise and Raphael Borges Rodriguez to the starting line-up intrigued me - two relative unknowns stepping into the breach in a game that historically we would be struggling to win.

Only four wins in London since the fabled FA Cup-lifting of 2013...that particular stat wouldn’t have filled me with confidence had I not heard it after the full-time whistle. But back at 2.30pm, the prospect of these two untried and untested wildcards left me full of apprehension.

Ryan Lowe had mentioned in some of his pre-match diatribe that he had been enabled to get more time on the pitch with the players over the last fortnight, and that he had been given a number of selection headaches, some evident as players like Luke Robinson, Steven Sessegnon and James Carragher didn’t make their usual spots.

In any case, the two new arrivals must have done at least enough to put themselves at the top of the pecking order, albeit with the notable emissions of Joseph Hungbo and Matt Smith. In hindsight, I was right to single them out. Both of them put in a hell of a performance considering their relative lack of minutes.

Francois found himself dropping deep and played a very dynamic outlet for possession and pressure, allowing us to build up from the back and adeptly keep possession until we could find that incisive pass. Usually out wide to our second man.

In cameos, Raphael had definitely looked like some sort of player. But it was quite difficult to tell how well that player would adapt to the physicality and directness of a league like ours. It’s all well and good playing well in a strong team like Coventry, or dazzling the Aussies, but it’s another to make a 300-mile trip to Wimbledon in the pouring rain and put on a show. However, a show he performed.

Dancing down the wing with every opportunity, Raphael took his man and provided a directness that we have scarcely seen in recent years wearing a Latics shirt. Honestly, as a collective I thought we performed well, but he would’ve been my man of the match...if not for a relatively notable 15 minutes towards the final whistle.

If there was one player I could say hadn’t necessarily performed to our overarching high standards, it was Dara Costelloe. At this point, it’s difficult not to feel for him - he simply can’t buy a goal. I don't think any of us resent him for it, after all, it’s a confidence game. But to see so many chances spurned only for us to then concede having been three or four chances to the good was a tough pill to swallow.

He will come good, I’m sure of it, but maybe a few weeks out of the limelight might do him the world of good. And let's be honest, that is probably coming sooner than later with the spectacular introduction of our latest ‘world’s hottest prospect’, Harrison Bettoni.

I think to be 15 minutes into your debut and have people running out of superlatives to describe you is a feat in itself. There isn’t much to say that hasn’t already been said, but his overall game for the last 15 minute was something quite extraordinary.

He played with grace and fluidity of a player like Nick Powell, but with the physicality and pace of someone of far greater physical stature. His free-kick was simply immense, flawless and without equal this season, and his finish for the second of his brace was equally as efficient and well taken, if not quite as spectacular. Again, it speaks to the levels of talent that our Academy can produce, and lends credence to ol’ Maloney’s ‘the kids are all right’ strategy.

Bettoni doesn’t even seem to be the only one - Adam Moseley is scoring for fun in the Development Squad, and a number of our 18-21 year olds being loaned out to non-league clubs just proves, as if there was any doubt, that we have quality and depth being built throughout our ranks. If you play them, they will score. And then potentially get sold to Hull City for next to nothing…

This seems like one of the most overtly positive pieces I remember writing for the 12th Man column in quite a while. I think it’s important to embrace the positivity where you can, especially at a club where so much has been tough to take over the last five years.

However, to bring us back down to earth for a moment, overall I think the result maybe flatters us. It’s difficult to decipher just how much, after two goals of such high quality, as Bettoni could very well be the missing piece of a puzzle. However, the pessimist in me says that the more pragmatic approach is that we can’t expect an 18-year-old to come on and save our bacon every week for the next six months.

We do have a very strong xG, for the new-age stat merchants among us, but thus far goals have been hard to come by. And if Bettoni doesn't turn out to be our saviour, it’s difficult to see exactly where those goals are coming from. However, I suppose that remains to be seen. If he does then we’ve got some player on our hands, and looking at the table, maybe a title charge too…

Sean Livesey:

That was more like it! For weeks we've wanted the real Wigan Athletic to step up. Or at least the Wigan Athletic we saw in August. On a bitterly cold and wet afternoon in South London they did just that.

Ryan Lowe had spoken about a feeling in training during the week and so many players giving him selection headaches. The 90 minutes that unfolded at Plough Lane won't have helped to ease those headaches.

Latics started the game as the dominant side and could have been two or three goals to the good before half-time. But as with too many games this autumn, Latics failed to get a foothold in the game. Chances went begging for the likes of Fraser Murray and Dara Costelloe, as the latter again failed to fire. So it was no surprise when the Dons went ahead midway through the second half.

It felt like the well-worn path we've been on for the last two months. In previous matches, Latics have crumbled when going behind. But Saturday was different. On came Ollie Cooper and 18-year-old Harrison Bettoni, whose only previous appearance had come in the EFL Trophy.

Bettoni showed confidence well beyond his years as he headed straight over to take a free kick. With his first kick of the game he got Latics back on level terms, and sent the 700 or so Wiganer's into raptures. If what he did on 77 minutes was impressive, what came on 87 minutes went one better.

As Jensen Weir and Paul Mullin combined, Bettoni latched on to a through ball and scored the winner. The game turned on its head thanks to an 18-year-old on his debut, and if he never scores again for Wigan Athletic, he'll still go down in history. But I've a sneaking feeling that Bettoni will indeed score more for Wigan Athletic, and hopefully he's the latest in a long line of fantastic talents to emerge from the Academy.

So Latics have managed to banish the 'no away wins' curse, and did so in some style. It's been a difficult couple of months, and the positivity of the summer and early season seemed to have disappeared. But it's amazing what a win can do for you. If we'd have lost on Saturday, quite rightly there would have been a number of dissenting voices, and you would have been looking over your shoulder at that bottom three.

But a win does a lot - it stops the rot, it builds on an unbeaten run, and it shows that maybe this side is working out how to grind out results. Either way there's a chance to start climbing the table now, and the lads need to follow that up with a win over Stevenage on Saturday.

The games are coming thick and fast over the next five weeks or so, and it isn't an exaggeration to say this next month - including the festive period - could define our season. Let's hope we're starting to hit form at the right time!