Jewell seeks sparkling striker amid Wigan’s woes

Wigan 0 Blackburn 3

The Latics were beaten 3-0 by local rivals Blackburn at the JJB Stadium, leaving the club just one place and four points off the relegation zone.

This latest loss was also Wigan’s fifth in succession at home.

Jewell’s side started comfortably enough, but from the moment Emile Heskey put one through his own net in the 38th minute, it appeared there was only going to be one winner.

So it proved as Rovers went on to win their third successive league game with a 58th-minute tap-in from Matt Derbyshire — scoring his first for the club — and a 76th-minute penalty from Benni McCarthy who now has 12 for the season.

A dejected Jewell said: “People are talking about us signing strikers, and we are looking to bring another striker in. We have made a bid for one striker and we are waiting to hear from the club concerned, but he will have to be some player because at the moment it looks like we need to score four goals to win a game.

“We don’t seem to have the will to drag ourselves back into matches. Our heads go down when we concede a goal.

“We always knew that this season would be tough, and anyone who thought otherwise was kidding themselves.

“But this is a tough league. It’s very unforgiving and right now we are making mistakes and getting punished.”

That was apparent for Blackburn’s second goal in particular as Robbie Savage, captain Lucas Neill and Morten Gamst Pedersen, all combined to set up a wide-open Derbyshire, who had replaced the injured Shabani Nonda at half-time.

Since suffering a 6-2 defeat at Arsenal just before Christmas, Blackburn have responded in fine style and are now comfortably clear of the relegation zone.

Manager Mark Hughes insists his side are “looking upwards rather than downwards” and are eager to repeat their top-six finish of last season, which allowed them to qualify for the UEFA Cup.

When asked whether that was the target, Hughes replied: “Why not? We always set ourt sights high.

“It was very much in our thoughts at the start of the season, and know we have put ourselves in a position to do it again.

WIGAN: Kirkland, Boyce, Hall, De Zeeuw, Baines, Cotterill, Skoko (Wright 46), Landzaat, Kilbane, Heskey, Johansson.

BLACKBURN: Friedel, Emerton, Henchoz (Todd 73), Khizanishvili, Neill, Bentley, Savage, Mokoena, Pedersen, Nonda (Derbyshire 46), McCarthy (Gallagher 77).

Ref: M Clattenburg