JASON ROBERTS and Nathan Ellington yesterday ensured a miserable end to a Bank Holiday weekend that Cardiff City will want to forget. It started with a third straight Coca-Cola Championship defeat against Stoke City, then continued with the £3 million sale to West Bromwich Albion of Robert Earnshaw, arguably their best player.
Finally, along came Roberts, the Grenada international, and Ellington to score the goals that kept Wigan at the top of the table and left Cardiff supporters concerned about their club’s prospects. Six games into the campaign, Lennie Lawrence’s side are second from bottom, with only two goals in four games. Earnshaw’s move to the Premiership could not have come at a worse time.
“We wish Robert all the best, but he’s gone now and we have to get on with it,” Lawrence said. “I’ll do what’s best for the club now. Whether that’s to spend some of the money, all of it or none of it, I’m not going to elaborate on that now.” In contrast, Paul Jewell, the Wigan manager, has no worries over where his next goals are coming from.
In Roberts and Ellington he has the most potent strikeforce outside the Premiership, Ellington taking his tally to five goals in his past four appearances from the penalty spot after he was victim of a clumsy fifteenth-minute challenge by Rhys Weston.
Andy Campbell, the former Middlesbrough striker, should have equalised after a blistering 35th-minute run by Joel McAnuff, the former West Ham United midfield player, but shot tamely at John Filan from close range. It proved a costly miss. Seconds later, Roberts made it 12 goals in 20 starts since joining from West Brom with a powerful right-footed finish from 15 yards.
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The home side had to endure a tense finish after Filan, who was fortunate to escape a red card, fouled Campbell as he went around the Australia goalkeeper. Alan Lee made no mistake from the penalty spot.
Wigan’s bright start has left Jewell smiling again after the failure to reach the play-offs last season. “We’re on a bit of a roll at the moment, but you don’t get promotion in September,” he said. “Roberts and Ellington are getting all the accolades, but we had to defend well against Cardiff.”
WIGAN ATHLETIC (4-4-2): J Filan — D Wright, M Jackson, I Breckin, L Baines — G Teale (sub: N Eaden, 72min), J Bullard, P Frandsen, L McCulloch — N Ellington, J Roberts. Substitutes not used: G Walsh, E Thome, D Graham, A Mahon.
Booked: Bullard, Filan.
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CARDIFF CITY (4-4-2): T Warner — R Weston, R Page, D Gabbidon, T Vidmar — J Robinson (sub: P Parry, 83), G Kavanagh, J McAnuff, W Boland (sub: L Bullock, 74) — A Lee, A Campbell.
Substitutes not used: R Langley, J Collins, N Alexander.
Referee: E Ilderton.