Wigan RP 2 Ashton Town 4

Labelled by our friends at Wigan Robin Park as "The Pie Derby" the game left the Robins eating Humble pie rather than the Meat & Potato variety. Unfortunately I wasn't there for the start of the match as I went to Anfield to watch the Merseyside derby. With Liverpool gaining the 3 points the whistle blew and I ran the three quaters of a mile or so back to my car before jumping in it batman style to fly down the M58 to Robin Park from one derby to another. Going down the M58 was a story in it's self with fog thicker than Tyrone Dobbs I couldn't see 20 yards in front of me but "The Pie Derby" was more important than slowing down to worry about a bit of mist. By the time i'd got to the Wigan end of the M58 I'd left the fog behind, although it did catch up with me a bit later. Onto that 'A road' that goes through Pemberton was a bit of a pain, I kept getting stuck behind Vera and Mavis going to B&Q for the pensioners 10% off but I managed make it to Robin Park just before the Half hour mark. I got into the dugout to find us 2-0 up, Goals courtesy of Ste Eddy and Christian Baxby on 8 and 10 minutes respectively, only to see the minute I parked my rear on the bench a goal pulled back by McNally of Wigan RP to make it 2-1. Wigan played a few passes and we seemed to just let them through to go and score. Half time came with the scores at 2-1. After having our time in the dressing room and trying to put right the wrongs of the first half I managed to nip upstairs to see the Wigan RP secretary Taffy Roberts. Taffy is a true Gent in every sense of the word and he also provides lovely butties. Thanks Taff you're a credit to your Club. Butties shoved in my mouth we went back out for the second half. The half started as a bit of a midfield battle but about 10 minutes into the second half Wigan looked the better side and managed to equalise courtesy of a side footed, placed shot by substitute Small. 2-2.

From there on in the game turned into a real derby, fiesty, fast and a terrible referee. The sense of victory seemed to turn the residents of the Wigan Robin Park dugout into the raging lunatics, wanting to argue and fight with every one they could. It's a shame really because as I say they do have the likes of Taffy Roberts who are a credit only to be let down by other committee members who like to try and fight whenever they are getting beat. I refer to a few games that I've seen at the Arena namely AFC Liverpool, Atherton Cols and Chadderton.
So at 2-2 it was time to turn up the heat. A few rash challenges from Wigan RP were ignored by the referee whereas the replies from Ashton were immediately punished. The Fog that I had earlier left behind on the M58 had now well and truely caught up with me so we could hardly see the ball hit the back of the net when ste eddy slotted his second of the game on 76 minutes. We did see it enough to enjoy our celebrations in the technical area though. Four minutes later the game was wrapped up by substitute Kev Hill who made it 4-2 after 80 minutes. Cue the erruption in the Ashton dugout and the commencement of the Wigan bench tucking into a massive slice of Humble Pie. At that point we knew we only had to see out the rest of the game to get us back to winning ways. Even after the referee had added about 4 minutes on at the end we managed to deal with everything that Wigan threw at us which in all honesty wasn't that much. The final whistle went and the Wigan RP bench stormed into their dressing room without shaking hands because they were beaten by the better side on the day. I can't help but think that if the result was the other way round they woud of been the first ones offering their hand after the final whistle. After a little congratulations in the dressing room Taffy once again laid on the butties which were readily appreciated by all. After a butty and a drink it was time to head home with our 3 points in the bag. Well Done Boys

Wigan Robin Park 2 Ashton Town 4 Onwards and Upwards