Blackburn 0-0 Wigan: Hosts blow chance to move into the play-off zone

Blackburn 0-0 Wigan: Misfiring hosts blow chance to move into the play-off zone after stalemate with Championship basement boys… as Shaun Maloney earns a precious point in first game in charge of Latics

Blackburn’s misfiring players drove home their angry manager’s point in the worst possible way at Ewood Park on Monday night.

Jon Dahl Tomasson last week criticised the club for its failure to reinforce their tentative push for the play-offs, and his team then promptly blew a great chance to seize a top-six place against bottom club Wigan.

Tomasson had been scathing about his club’s effort since the January transfer window, when the only arrival was Huddersfield winger Sorba Thomas on loan, while their attempts to land two strikers came to nothing.

The manager had contrasted his team’s fine display in winning an FA Cup replay at Birmingham on deadline day with the below-par performance of the club off the field. Blackburn set about rectifying that discrepancy by squandering three good chances in the first half.

Ben Brereton Diaz raced clear from Bradley Dack’s pass but failed to beat Wigan goalkeeper Ben Amos.

Wigan goalkeeper Ben Amos denies Blackburn striker Ben Brereton Diaz in the first-half

Joe Rankin-Costello dragged another fine chance well wide, and Thomas shot too close to Amos. 

Blackburn almost paid when defender Omar Rekik, making his Wigan debut after a loan move from Arsenal, burst through two tackles and fired narrowly wide early in the second half. 

That would have been a marvellous start for new boss Shaun Maloney, who took charge for the first time and flaunted his own club’s more successful window activity by handing debuts to Rekik, Martin Kelly and Danel Sinani. 

Kelly bundled a James McClean corner in at the far post but the strike was disallowed for Callum Lang’s foul on the goalkeeper Aynsley Pears.

The new Wigan boss inherits a poisoned chalice after Kolo Toure was sacked after just nine winless matches.

Maloney could not arrest that dismal run but his side showed enough fight to suggest relegation is no certainty.

Wigan’s James McClean attempts to cross the ball under pressure from Joe Rankin-Costello

Shaun Maloney earned a precious point in hisfirst game in charge of Wigan Athletic

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