Wigan Athletic News

reddevilleanne · Joined: 20 Oct 2004 Posts: 13228 Location: Nottingham

Henri hat-trick hammers Addicks
By Paul Higham - Created on 17 Dec 05

Henri Camara bagged a hat-trick as Wigan ended their run of defeats with a 3-0 win over Charlton at The JJB Stadium.

Paul Jewell's men had endured a tough run of fixtures, resulting in five straight defeats, but they bounced back to winning ways with a comfortable victory over Charlton.

Camara fired in his first after just nine minutes and Wigan never looked like losing after that, with some poor Charlton defending helping him grab his second on 51 minutes and his third just after the hour.

Wigan started brightly and were ahead inside ten minutes after Charlton were caught napping at a throw-in and Lee McCulloch was allowed to turn and thump a rasping drive against the crossbar.

The ball rebounded into the path of Camara and he fired the ball through Chris Powell's legs and into the back of the net for 1-0.

Confidence was oozing out of the Wigan players, Camara in particular, after the goal, and the Senegal striker raced clear of the Charlton defence minutes later, but he threw in too many twists and turns and eventually lost control.

It was Camara again causing problems on 20 minutes as he turned superbly inside the box and crossed from the right, forcing Luke Young into a brave clearance with Jimmy Bullard and McCulloch diving in.

Mike Pollitt was not called into action until the 28th minute when Darren Bent was fed through by Darren Ambrose, but the Wigan keeper saved well with his legs.

Charlton were struggling to get a foothold in the game and Bullard tested Dean Kiely with a swerving shot from 25 yards that the Charlton keeper had to beat away.

Kiely saved from Camara minutes later and Jason Roberts was ready to knock in the rebound before being crowded out by the Addicks defence.

Wigan moved 2-0 ahead on 51 minutes when Camara nipped in on Roberts' flick-on to poke the ball home with some poor defending to blame for Charlton as Hermann Hreidarsson was waiting for the ball to reach Kiely.

Bad defending played its part in Camara getting his hat-trick on 63 minutes as Kiely came out and completely missed the ball as the African juggled his way into the box, and he was allowed to simply turn and knock the ball in to complete his treble.

reddevilleanne · Joined: 20 Oct 2004 Posts: 13228 Location: Nottingham

Jewell: Win was vital
By Paul Higham - Created on 17 Dec 2005

Paul Jewell was delighted to get back to winning ways when Wigan beat Charlton 3-0 on Saturday.

The Latics had lost five in a row prior to Saturday's game at The JJB Stadium, but they were all tough games against Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham.

Jewell told his troops to put those five defeats behind them when they took on Charlton, and the three points came as a welcome return to form.

"We said we knew the last five games would be tough for us - they'd be tough for any team," said Jewell.

"I said to them on Thursday morning that our season starts here.

"To lose six on the bounce would be terrible so it was vital that we won today.

"It was a good win for us - it was a good performance from start to finish.

"They almost nicked one on the break but we just kept on going in the second half and got our just rewards.

"They went out with plenty of hunger and desire, and some quality football too and that was pleasing to see."

Jewell had special praise for hat-trick hero Henri Camara, who gave Wigan the 3-0 victory with his goals.

"It's nice when you spend a lot of money on a striker and it comes off," added Jewell.

"He's a bit unpredictable at times but when he's playing like that he's almost unplayable.

"He showed blistering pace for the goals, he had no right to score them.

"I know Curbs won't be happy with a couple of them but all we can say is he took them well."