It's Hammer Time!
Posted by liam_wafc in West Ham, Wigan | 24 March 2006
The reverse fixture at Upton Park was hell for most Latics fans and for me aswell. Not because West Ham slaughtered us, oh no; we ran out comfortable 2-0 winners on the night. No, its was because the entire night, bar the result, was jsut one problem after another.
To kick things off, the coach i was on set off late, and then got caught in traffice, but luckily our drivers had Sat Nav and knew a short cut. But unknown to us, half of the other coaches heading to Upton Park were not as lucky. By the time we had reached the end of the M6, we had dodged two accidents , one which happened just as we got off the M52 (and of which got closed straight after us) we got a phone call through telling us that half of the coaches had to turn back as by 7:00pm (just an hour before kick off), most of the coaches had still not hit the Birmingham toll bridge!
At this point it felt like us against the world! As we listened to the radio, we were hearing about the games beign called off, fearing that ours would also be called off, which would be the final kick in the teeth. And despite a late scare that our game had been called off at the last minute, thanks alot for that BBC!, my coach made it to the game 5 minutes before kick off, i was in the end one of the lucky people.
But, just to end my night perfectly, whilst i was getting the pies (a Wigan tradition of course), both Roberts and 
Camara (pictured) scored in the space of 5 first half minutes. Lucky for me though, there were two widescreen tellys down in the concourse and me and the other 100 fans queueing for the half time fixes went mad!
We eventually won the game with ease 2-0 in one of the easiest away victories of the season. And the same result this Saturday, in a game dubbed 'The battle of the Promoted clubs' by many of each clubs fans, would suite me perfectly.
Both clubs have had superb seasons up to now, with Wigan of course leading the other promoted clubs in the Premiership. We find ourselves currently on 46 points in eigth place, whereas West Ham are in tenth place on 42 points. The less said about Sunderland the better.
This Saturday, it is our chance to put further space between ourselves and the Hammers, and to possibly end their hopes of qualifying for the UEFA Cup via the league. That would also be revenge for when West Ham ruined our hopes of play-off qualification, two seasons ago on the final day of the season.
And of course, for me personally it would be superb. I will be honest and say i do not like West Ham, to be more exact i don't like some of their fans that i have had the misfortune to come into contact with!
Team news wise, Wigan will be without Ryan Taylor, Steve Mcmillan and despite returning to training, Mike Pollitt (the hero of Highbury) will miss out to Aussie John Filan. David Thompson could return
Predicted team: Filan, Baines, Scharner, De Zeeuw (c), Chimbonda, Mchulloch, Bullard, Kavanagh, Teale, Roberts, Camara
My Prediction: Its Hammer time for the Hammers! This is the secon of three games against fellow European hopefulls and we must win to keep our dreams on track. We've been threatening to slaughter someone for a while and seeing as West Ham have been shipping goals at the wrong end at an alarming rate in the leauge, im going for:
Latics 3 Hammers 1
