Don't stop believing Wigan, hold on to that survival feeling

 

Romilly Evans ponders Wigan's reaction after seeing a famous win slip though their fingers at the weekend...

 

The framework of our own experience - that is to say its specific subjective context - is what determines how psychologically enjoyable or detrimental any event is.  The prosaic outcome of the event, though, is positively banal by comparison.

 

Lose your arm to an axe-wielding maniac on a woodland stroll, bitterness and a desire for recrimination will inevitably follow. Lose your arm to a lion while on safari  in the Serengeti, you might think you had a lucky escape and subsequently return to visit the lion, even see how its cubs are doing.

 

An extreme example perhaps, but both times you lost an arm with the same inconvenient fallout. And both times it occurred in traumatic, not to mention gory fashion.  Your emotional response, then, appears rather randomly predicated on where you take your walks and the variety of assailant.

 

On Saturday, Wigan didn't lose any limbs. They did, however, lose two vital points - and in decidedly traumatic fashion. A late own-goal by their captain, Emmerson  Boyce, robbed them of a massive win against Tottenham Hotspur at a pivotal juncture in the season. Boyce had earlier also scored at the right end, but his deflected  equaliser (coming in the last minute of regulation play) was the cruelest cut for the team talisman.

 

Consequently, despite an ostensibly encouraging result (a 2-2 draw against highflying Spurs), it is likely that this match will be viewed through the prism of pain -  both individually by Boyce and collectively by his team. A promising performance scuppered by the manner in which it played out. It surely did Wigan more harm than  good.

 

Such mental anguish finally seemed to be affecting the naturally upbeat Roberto Martinez, who ruefully reflected on a concession which "really rubbed salt into the  wound." The Wigan boss then tried to keep the faith by boldly predicting that his troops could still rally with three wins in their final four games (against West  Brom, Swansea, Arsenal and Aston Villa). However, it was perhaps telling that he concluded his conference with the age-old saying: "when you are down at the bottom,  the breaks just don't go your way."

 

That managerial excuse is now as tired as it is time-honoured - a lazy line from a man known for his motivational powers. Bad breaks come and go, you simply notice  them more when you're struggling to find a foothold at the bottom of the league ladder. The Latics and Martinez need to shelve their woe-is-me countenance quickly if  they are to avoid becoming this year's answer to Middlesbrough's 1997 campaign which ended in the "duality double" - relegation coupled to an FA Cup Final appearance.

 

Many will retort that Wigan have been in worse scrapes before and still recovered to find a safe house. But while experience in the trenches is helpful, being  perpetually on the brink of the dreaded drop can shred the nerves of even the toughest troops. And the fears are gathering at the DW Stadium that this could prove one  demotion dogfight too far.

 

Still, although they remain firmly in the mire, Wigan will have a chance to pull off another great escape while they continue to display the hunger and tenacious  tackling which characterised their initial fightback against Tottenham. Of more concern must be their enduring ability to concede first in the Premier League. They  have now committed this cardinal error in 22 of their 34 games and it's hard to keep believing when you're always falling behind early.

 

Despite the best recent efforts of Newcastle to convince Brendan Rodgers that Liverpool will be just fine without Luis Suarez, it still looks like a two-horse war for relegation between Wigan and Aston Villa. And while other teams could yet become embroiled, it would be fitting if this nail-gnawer went down to the final game of the season when Wigan host the Villans. So while the psychological hammer blows keep coming, the Latics know the hammer is still to fall on their hopes of survival.

 

Those hopes may be fading. But at least they still have all their limbs intact.

 

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