By the look of it, the draw for the Fourth Round of the League Cup has been greeted with enthusiasm by most City fans. Sorry, but Wrexham away isn’t a tie I can get too enthusiastic about – it’s another long trip north, even though the fact that the two teams are from the same country gets some to refer to it as a derby fixture. No club fixture where the sides involved are almost 140 miles apart should be called a derby as far as I’m concerned and, being old enough to remember the brief spell in the late 70s and early 80s when league fixtures between the two clubs were commonplace, I always used to think of Wrexham away as akin to a trip to Shrewsbury, Crewe or Chester.
In saying all of that, it’s not the fact that I’ve had a problem accepting that Wrexham v Cardiff as a derby game which makes me disappointed with the draw, it’s more that of the five surviving non Premier League teams left in the competition, we’re the only one that has not got a home draw in Round 4.
However, I’m not going to make the same mistake as a I did when the Third Round draw handed us a trip to Burnley. I presumed that we would be defeated at Turf Moor, but, if we play like we did on Tuesday, there’s no reason to think we’re as good as out already. In fact, although I’d much prefer to have had the game as Cardiff v Wrexham, the north Walians look a tougher nut to crack on their travels than they do at home.
City’s opponents on Saturday have had what I’d call a more traditional type of record this season with three wins and a draw from four home games and two draws and three defeats from their five away matches so far. After convincingly beating a Doncaster side which I believe was in second place at the time in their last home match, a lot of people were saying some very nice things about Wigan with many predicting a top six challenge, but after coming a cropper to the tune of 4-1 at Bolton last weekened, maybe a few opinions are being revised.
I have heard it said that the outcome was very cruel on Wigan, but, with the confidence gained from Tuesday’s win, City have to travel north again in a much better frame of mind than had looked likely after their unbeaten record was given up too easily against Bradford last weekend.
No prediction from me this week as to what will happen at Wigan, but I’d happily settle for a draw if it were offered now.
Anyway on to the quiz, seven questions about Wigan now, the answers to which will be posted on here on Sunday.
60s. Who scored sixty six goals in a season for Wigan during this decade?
70s. Sixteen years after having a short loan spell at Wigan during this decade, he was playing a part in a memorable Cardiff City cup win, who?
80s. Given a free transfer during this decade by Larry Lloyd when he was Wigan manager, this striker had sole possession of a Premier League record for the most goal involvements in his first ten games for a team in that league until it was equalled by Bruno Fernandes in 2020. He once described himself as the Premier League’s fastest player over a yard, can you name him?
90s. Skiing eland? He was seen at Wigan during this decade and, more recently, at Tranmere. (5,6)
00s. Former West Ham man’s Spanish connection or one of Wigan’s best ever Premier League players?
10s. Which former City and Wigan player from this decade lost his managerial job after only three league matches this season?
20s. Latvia, Turkey, Montenegro, Iceland, Montenegro – how and why is this sequence relevant to a current Wigan player?
Answers:
60s. Harry Lyon scored sixty six goals for Wigan in 64/65, including scoring six in one match.
70s. Mark Grew played four games for Wigan while on loan from West Brom in 78/79. In January 1994, Grew saved Keith Curle’s penalty in a 1-0 win by City at Ninian Park over Premier League Manchester City in the Fourth Round of the FA Cup.
80s. Micky Quinn was given a free transfer by Larry Lloyd after Wigan’s promotion to Division 3 in 1982. A decade later, Quinn had thirteen goal involvements in his first ten games as a Coventry player.
90s. Nigel Adkins.
00s. (Michail) Antonio Valencia.
10s. Don Cowie left his job as manager of Ross County after successive home defeats had left them bottom of the Scottish Championship last month.
20s. They’re a chronological list of the five Wales caps gained by Swansea’s Ollie Cooper who is currently on a season long loan to Wigan.
