The Latics more than held their own in rain-soaked Bruges, as the
2013 FA Cup winners opened their Europa League campaign, but were unable
to force a breakthrough.
James McArthur saw an early effort clip the outside of the post,
while James McClean glanced a header onto his own crossbar at the
opposite end of the field, but clear-cut openings were few and far
between in the opening 45 minutes.
Former Leeds United loanee Habib Habibou nodded wide in the second
half, after beating Scott Carson to a dangerous delivery, and James
Perch forced a smart save from Sammy Bossut, but the spoils were to be
shared.
Threat
Prior to the encounter, Owen Coyle had warned of the
threat posed by Zulte's forward play but also stressed his team would be
looking to counter it with an attacking brand of their own.
And it was the Latics who almost opened the scoring early on as Nick
Powell's corner came to McArthur just outside the box via the head of
skipper Emmerson Boyce. McArthur brought the ball down and then volleyed
it goalwards, skimming the outside of the woodwork.
At the other end, Conte skipped past the sliding challenge of Stephen Crainey and sent a low shot to Carson.
Chris McCann teed up Jordi Gomez in a useful-looking position, but
the Spaniard could only scuff off-target, before Bernard Malanda headed a
Hazard corner well over.
Zulte gave the ball away in the 19th minute but Powell - the
midfielder on loan from Manchester United, being deployed in this game
as a striker - could not take advantage, showing little accuracy with
his shot.
McCann won a corner just before the half-hour mark, with his
subsequent header from it being cleared, and Wigan then came close to
scoring an own-goal as McClean's head inadvertently directed a cross
from Thorgan Hazard - the younger brother of Eden who is on loan from
Chelsea - against the frame of the goal.
Reflexes
Zulte were looking more settled and in the 45th
minute they almost punished sloppiness from McCann, who lost possession
and watched on as Hazard was denied by a block and Ibrahima Conte by
great reflexes from Carson.
Shortly after the restart, Habibou headed wide for Zulte and Wigan
debutant Ryan Shotton then prodded the wrong side of the post from a
corner.
Zulte were pressing with increasing regularity and after Carson got a
touch to Jens Naessens' delivery into the danger zone, with the ball
evading Habibou, captain Davy De Fauw volleyed wide and Frederic Duplus
missed with a header from a corner.
Coyle brought on Marc-Antoine Fortune for Callum McManaman and Ben
Watson for Gomez and soon after, a Shotton attempt from outside the area
nearly caught out Bossut, who managed to get a hand in the way.
McCann then made a crucial intervention in the 86th minute, throwing
himself in front of Karel D'Haene's close-range shot, before Conte
curled narrowly over.
Posting Komentar