Goal-shy Barrow’s boys on the brink
WIGAN were left hanging on to their Championship status by a thread after a goalless draw at home to Cardiff.
Despite dominating the game, Wigan were unable to break through and the Welshmen came closest to breaking the deadlock, with Craig Noone firing against the crossbar in the first half.
Graham Barrow’s men will be relegated to League One if Birmingham pick up a single point from any of their last three fixtures.
Wigan came flying out of the blocks and Craig Morgan headed just wide.
The home side and their fans were screaming for a penalty in the 14th minute mark when Shaun MacDonald took Gabriel Obertan’s short pass before appearing to be clipped inside the area.
But to the Latics’ dismay referee Oliver Langford waved play on.
Wigan had welcomed back West Ham loanee Reece Burke after four months out with a hip problem and he was getting forward from his right-back position at every opportunity.
But the home side were unable to make their first-half dominance count, with Morgan stabbing over from a Jamie Hanson corner.
After soaking up everything Wigan could throw at them, Cardiff almost sneaked ahead just before the break when Noone took advantage of a mistake from David Perkins, only to fire against Matt Gilks’ crossbar.
Perkins almost made amends within seconds of the restart only for his shot to fly just over the top.
Wigan threw on Nick Powell and Ryan Colclough just before the hour mark to try to tip the balance.
And Powell almost made his presence felt immediately, narrowly failing to get on the end of a Michael Jacobs corner, with Dan Burn seeing his follow-up hacked away.
Cardiff almost nosed ahead with only their second real attempt at goal, a flick-header from Aron Gunnarsson flying inches wide of the far post in front of the onrushing Bruno Manga.
Colclough was also looking lively off the bench, with a left-foot shot almost creeping in at the near post.