Ugly win suits Jewell

Wigan’s first victory over Manchester City in eight attempts earned them a place in the fourth round of the much-maligned Worthington Cup for only the second time.

The promotion-chasing Latics are currently third in Division Two and are now unbeaten in all competitions since August 31.

Neil Roberts’ first-half strike proved to be enough for the home side, and Wigan manager Paul Jewell said: “It was not pretty to watch but derby games never are and I thought we deserved it.

“We fought for our lives – never mind the last 10 minutes, the last 90 minutes were tough.

“They are a quality side. If it had been a proper football game we would have lost, and so we were determined not to play them at their game.

“We never wanted it to be a top quality game because if we did they would have killed us. I thought all the players as a team were excellent. We’re pleased and the supporters are really pleased but we won’t get carried away.”

City boss Kevin Keegan was left to lament his decision to field a virtually full-strength side despite the Manchester derby coming up on Saturday.

Keegan decided to rest only Eyal Berkovic of his big-name stars, and in all made just two changes to the side that won their Premiership encounter at West Brom last weekend.

But after a hard tussle on a cut-up JJB Stadium pitch, City were left with nothing but two further additions to the injury list.

Steve Howey will go for an x-ray this morning after hobbling off with a recurring foot problem, and Sylvain Distin picked up a hamstring injury and both players are almost certainly out of the long-awaited Maine Road showdown.

Keegan said: “I kind of wish we had put the kids in now. I wanted to win the game but we weren’t quite good enough to do that. You’ve got to all be there, and in the first half there were three or four of us were thinking ‘well one of us will get a goal sooner or later’.

“We were beaten fair and square and I hope they go all the way – you never know in this competition.

“I’m disappointed for our fans but we have to take it on the chin.”

Wimbledon’s bonfire night went up in smoke with a paltry 664 turning up to watch as Rotherham fought from a goal behind to win 3-1 and dump out Stuart Murdoch’s side.