Wigan eager to shake off patchy form
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Your support makes all the difference.Recent memories of play-off failures ought not to be preying on Wigan minds as they strain for a glimpse of their distant pursuers in the Second Division title race but something is troubling Paul Jewell's team, even if the agonies of 1999, 2000 and 2001 have nothing to do with it.
Their lead is still a formidable buffer against patchy form but, after four consecutive draws, Wigan fans travel to promotion-seeking Queen's Park Rangers today wondering whether the play-off jinx that brought down three of Jewell's predecessors might be about to strike again.
Jewell, not normally one to single out individuals for praise or blame, blamed the goal-drought afflicting record signing Nathan Ellington for the side's lack of points of late. Ellington has failed to score in his last nine games and missed a great chance at struggling Stockport in midweek.
"He should have won the game for us – he was clean through but was clearly caught in two minds," Jewell said. "He is low in confidence at the moment." Even so, with a massive goal difference in their favour, Wigan effectively need only a point from today's match to be sure at least of a play-off place and it is still hard to imagine them being denied automatic promotion at this stage, although after one defeat in nine games QPR are capable of eroding their advantage a little more.
The race for promotion from the Third Division remains compellingly competitive, with five points blanketing third to 11th places. Wrexham (sixth), who dented leaders Hartlepool's progress in midweek, meet York (fifth) in one of the more intriguing matches, with Wrexham's manager Denis Smith claiming that to lead the Welsh side to promotion would be his greatest achievement in 21 years as a manager.
Smith once famously won a place in the First Division with an Oxford side who had been 17th at Christmas but the financial problems facing Wrexham, he says, have made his current challenge even more testing. "Promotion with Oxford was special but I had a good team there, with players like Matt Elliott and Phil Gilchrist," Smith said. "I haven't got exceptional players at Wrexham, just a set of lads who work hard. We've had a lot of injuries and with poor home gates there has been no money to spend. With all those things, going up would be a very big achievement."
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