Match Analysis: Blackpool 1-0 Wigan Athletic

Thomas Ince's penalty was enough for Blackpool to pick up their first win in six matches as Wigan Athletic left Bloomfield Road empty-handed.

England Under-21 international Ince smashed home from 12 yards after Dan Gosling was tripped by Latics keeper Scott Carson.

The first 75 minutes went by with the odd chance before a crazy last quarter of an hour saw Wigan hit the bar twice and Blackpool squander a host of chances.

Wigan winger James McClean was also sent off for retaliating after an apparent stamp by Blackpool centre-back Gary MacKenzie that went unnoticed by the officials.

Here, Sports Mole pores over the 90 minutes on the Lancashire coast.

Match statistics:

Blackpool: Shots 14 On target 5 Possession 42% Corners 5 Fouls 13

Wigan: Shots 21 On target 1 Possession 58% Corners 5 Fouls 8

Was the result fair?

Wigan will feel that they were hard done by after hitting the upright twice and although they led the possession and shot count, Blackpool's numerous late chances mean that they probably just deserve the three points.

Blackpool's performance

The Tangerines were without manager Paul Ince today as he started a five-game stadium ban, with assistant Alex Rae taking charge on the touchline. Ince Senior will be over the moon that his boys were able to come past a talented Wigan outfit. Defensively they are very sound, with MacKenzie in particular a bullish presence. Up front Ricardo Fuller worked hard but offered very little as Ince Junior provided the main threat but was wasteful in front of goal.

Wigan's performance

Wigan were one of the favourites for promotion but are yet to really get going this season. Owen Coyle's strategy of starting without a recognised striker did not work and they had much more impetus once Grant Holt and Marc-Antoine Fortune had come on. As one can see from the stats, the Latics managed to get just one shot out of 20 on target, which simply is not good enough.

Sports Mole's man of the match

Gary MacKenzie: He may have played a part in getting McClean sent off but apart from that, MacKenzie was a beast in the air today, winning 80% of his aerial duals and completing 75% of his passes. There was not a standout player today but if you had to highlight someone, then it was MacKenzie.

Biggest gaffe

The clearest chance of the opening half fell Nick Powell's way in the ninth minute and somehow the Manchester United loanee headed wide of the target from Rogne's nod back across goal.

Referee performance

Mark Haywood will have had much better games with the whistle. Arguably he should have sent off Carson for bringing down Gosling when he was the last man. Wigan will probably appeal against McClean's sending-off and rightly so: he may have reacted angrily but was right to do so as MacKenzie did appear to leave his studs in on the Irishman. McClean didn't even do that much wrong by standing up to the big centre-half.

What next?

Blackpool: The second game of Paul Ince's stadium ban sees another Lancashire club in Blackburn visit Bloomfield Road next Saturday.

Wigan: Wigan, meanwhile, host Rubin Kazan in the UEFA Cup on Thursday before travelling to Charlton on Sunday afternoon.