Under-siege Martinez set for boot at Wigan

MICK McCARTHY knew the stakes could not have been higher and he was most likely placing his job on the line with anything other than victory.

For the two weeks of the international break the Wolves manager is safe from the angry mob calling for his head at Molineux.

It is unlikely Roberto Martinez has the same sense of job security at Wigan.

A week ago, Wigan owner Dave Whelan said he could never sack his manager. Twenty four hours before this woeful capitulation, in which the Spaniard questioned the “mental capacity” of his players to deal with going a goal behind, the Wigan owner said he would dispense with Martinez’s services if it was in the “best interests of the club”.

No manager has ever lost more than eight successive Premier League games and survived and Martinez is at the abyss after reaching the cut-off figure.

Surely defeat at home against fellow bottom three dwellers Blackburn Rovers, when Wigan return from the international break is as unthinkable for Martinez as losing to a team with such an impoverished record here was for McCarthy.

He maintained all week his side would win and his conviction was validated by an impressive response to a game he admitted he “dare not lose.”

McCarthy’s side scrambled into 13th position in the table, above their bitter rivals West Brom, after their first win in nine games and the sense of relief was overwhelming, while Wigan further embarrassed themselves with the unwanted sight defender Antolin Alcaraz spitting at Wolves defender Christophe Berra after a melee of players in the second half, when the Paraguayan had already been booked.

The tension was palpable throughout and both sides appeared gripped with the fear of losing and errors littered the entire 90 minutes and Wigan contributed hugely to their own downfall. Hugo Rodallega committed one of the most glaring somehow poking his shot wide from six-yards after Christophe Berra failed to intercept Franco Di Santo’s diagonal cross and Mohamed Diame also managed to miss the target from 12 yards.

Within 32 seconds of Rodallega’s horrendous miss, Kevin Doyle’s industry and determination to defeat Maynor Fugueroa resulted in his cross dissecting the six-yard box for Jamie O’Hara’s tap-in.

Wigan hit back and were awarded a penalty when Emerson Boyce was knocked clean off his feet by Stephen Hunt’s barge in the area. Still Ben Watson managed to increase the error count by driving his penalty straight at Wayne Hennessey, but reprieved himself by converting the rebound.

Dave Edwards justified his selection with a powerful volley to restore Wolves’ advantage, after two gravity defying saves from Al Habsi denied Hunt and O’Hara and from that point Wigan barely seemed to recognise the gravity of the danger they faced. To Wolves’ credit they refused to let up.

Once again Al Habsi did all he could to prevent more damage, pushing away O’Hara’s cross after substitute Matt Jarvis tricked his way past Boyce, but Stephen Ward reacted faster than anyone in the crowded penalty area to return the effort with interest and with the aid of a deflection off Alcaraz’s heel, he sealed a crucial victory.