Football: Fulham foiled by 10-man Wigan

Wednesday 02 December 1998 00:02 GMT
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

FULHAM MISSED the chance to move within a point of the Second Division leaders, Stoke City, as they were beaten 2-0 away to Wigan Athletic, who climbed three places up the table to 10th last night.

Kevin Keegan's expensively assembled side could make no headway before the interval and they fell behind six minutes into the second half when the former Manchester United defender Pat McGibbon headed home from a corner by Michael O'Neill.

David Lowe, Wigan's 33-year-old striker, who began his long career at Springfield Park more than 16 years ago, added the second after 62 minutes, again set up by O'Neill.

Three minutes later, Fulham had a golden opportunity to put themselves back in contention but their midfielder, Steve Hayward, had his penalty saved by Roy Carroll.

Still, Fulham had the chance to earn something out of the game. Wigan were reduced to 10 men when Paul Rogers was shown the red card for a late tackle that led to Steve Finnan being taken off on a stretcher, but Fulham were unable to exploit the advantage in the remaining 17 minutes.

Kevin Nugent's 49th-minute penalty lifted Cardiff City to the top of the Third Division. It gave the Welshmen a 1-0 victory at Carlisle United, who continue to struggle and remain in the bottom four. The Carlisle defender Tony Hopper brought down Richard Carpenter and Nugent made no mistake from the spot for his sixth goal of the season.

Mansfield Town moved up five places to third as they won by the same score at home to Peterborough United. Their leading scorer, Lee Peacock, knocked in the decisive goal after 14 minutes.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in