Now I know a fixture between Wigan and West Brom doesn’t send a tingle down the spine of most neutrals out there but there were a few reasons I decided to take a trip to the DW. Ethan one of the guys from the podcast is a West Brom fan , so it was a chance to meet him while seeing a game, but the main reason to go was my love of Peter Odemwingie.

It has been mentioned a few times my affection towards the Nigerian forward and the chance to see him in person couldn’t be missed, it would also provide a slight chance of maybe getting my Lille jersey signed.

The journey was quite pain free, a bus to Manchester then train to Wigan Wallgate. The DW Stadium is a good 20-25 minute walk from the station, down past the canal towards the retail park in which it sits. Walking down it was clear that West Brom had brought a big away support, I walked past more Baggies fans than Wigan fans, and obviously the trip up the M6 had gotten them in good spirits.

After meeting Ethan at the ground we headed inside, being Scottish it is quite a novel idea to buy a beer inside a ground, not having to stand in a dark horrible pub but inside the stadium watching the end of Aston Villa v Man United was a definite change of pace, time permitted only the one, but it is something I could get used to.

Taking our seats inside my first mission began, I had picked seats in the Wigan end but close to the West Brom fans for a number of reasons, hoping it would add to the atmosphere – nothing like a bit of away fan banter, the other reason was I expected this would be the side West Brom would warm up.

My plan was to try and get Odemwingie to sign my Lille shirt, I proceeded down the steps to the front, the players were warming up near the stand, I shouted “Peter” you could see he heard something, so I tried again “Peter!” This time he looked, I waved the jersey, he waved giving a thumbs up, beckoning him over, he gave the international signal for “I’ll be over in a minute.” Even the steward noticed it and advised he’d pass it on when he came over. I must admit my heart began to beat like a schoolgirl at a Peter Andre concert, was I about to get Odemwingie’s autograph……..No.

The excitement ended in disappointment, expectation rose even further when Peter walked over to Marc-Antoine Fortune who had also played for Lille in the past, he pointed him in the direction of me holding the jersey, and I gave it a pathetic wave, hoping to stir up interest. It was all in vain, training finished and Peter ran in with his team, it was a sad lonely walk back up the stairs to my seat, so close but yet so far.

Luckily there was football still to come, and who would have thought it would be a decent game. Wigan came out the much better side, looking to get the ball down and pass, N’Zogbia was their favoured option, with the impressive Ronnie Stam linking with him well, a few early crosses came in from the right. I can’t say I’ve ever noticed Stam’s style of play before but he was excellent, working hard to get forward, doing the simple things well, keeping the ball moving and his willingness to overlap N’Zogbia caused problems in the opening 10-15 minutes.

Jordi Gomez started in the middle three behind Rodallega and his class on the ball was there to see, however it is clear to me he is not the man you want on the ball when trying to hit on the counter attack, on a number of occasions his slow calculated style was not what was needed, a quick release to N’Zogbia on the right or Cleverly down the left would have caused much more danger.

For all Wigan’s possession they didn’t trouble Scott Carson, Tamas and Pablo looked very comfortable containing Rodallega, the Colombian is a talented player but it is clear he is not the type of front man you want playing on his own, He would benefit so much from playing off a target-man, with his pace and intelligent runs, it would add so much more to the team.

West Brom slowly came back into the game, and for the last ten minutes of the half, they looked the more dangerous, Jerome Thomas was threatening down the left with his pace, but so often after beating his man he couldn’t find the through ball to Odemwingie, mostly through his greed on the ball, very frustrating to watch from a Albion point of view.

All square at half time, the second half Wigan came out all guns blazing, Gomez was replaced by Victor Moses and the young Englishman had the West Brom defence running scared, his pace and direct running style will cause Nicky Shorey sleepless nights this week, like a rabbit in the headlights at times, the Albion defence moved further and further back to contain his pace.

Eventually the change paid off, Wigan broke forward Moses released down the right and cutting into the box he fired the ball across Carson and into the West Brom net, a deserved lead overall. The visitors trained in vain to bounce back, and nearly got a penalty when Odemwingie jinked past two players and was upended, referee Anthony Taylor deemed it to be on the edge of the box, the free-kick was poor and Wigan survived.

West Brom continued to push forward leaving space at the back for Moses to hit on the counter, it was a very open last 10 minutes, either side could have scored, the best chance fell to substitute Fortune in injury time, after a scramble in the box the ball fell to the Frenchman on the angle, but Al-Habsi was there to make the save, a hero with the Wigan fans “Ali, Ali, Ali” the chants went up, the full time whistle ended Albion’s chances and you could tell this win was important to the home support.

The home support was very good, we have all heard to stories about Wigan having no fans etc, and yes there was quite a few empty seats, the fans know this and the ironic song “1-0 to the empty seats” sums up their feeling, but respect to the fans that do go, I think our seating choice helped, in with the most vocal fans and the drummer added so much to the atmosphere and made it a very enjoyable day.

Ethan wasn’t too pleased his team had lost and his jinx continued but he did seem to enjoy the day, the long cold walk to the station followed, buying some much needed fish and chips with only minutes to spare before the train arrived, and then followed one of the best moments of the day.

Who was to come down the stairs onto the platform but a solitary Wolves fan, the Baggies fans smelt blood and this poor chap was to endear a good 10 minutes of constant anti-Wolves chants, taking it all in good humour he waved back in appreciation, even the West Brom fans applauded his bravery, that was until eight policemen came trundling down the steps to “protect” him. Overkill for a friendly bit of banter, it brought on the chant “You got saved by the Old Bill!!”

An all round enjoyable day, after my pre-game worries about poor football or lack of atmosphere, all the reservations were proved wrong and the DW Stadium is a venue I’d visit again.