Wigan surrender lead after floodlight fire
- Wigan stay rooted in League One relegation places
- The game at the Kassam Stadium was delayed for over an hour after a fire in one of the floodlights
Unlucky Wigan slumped to a late defeat after a fire delayed their game against Oxford United for an hour at the Kassam Stadium on Sunday evening.
The League One game was goalless at half time when the ground had to be evacuated because of a fire in one of the floodlights.
“We were coming out for the second half and you could smell burning through the air vents and we were told to quickly evacuate the building,” Oxford boss Karl Robinson told the BBC after the game.
The match had already been delayed by 24 hours because of the freezing weather then was put back further to a 4pm kick-off to allow the pitch further time to thaw out.
BREAKING: A fire at the Kassam Stadium has led to the suspension of Oxford United game against Wigan and also to COVID-19 vaccinations taking place at the site. #oufc pic.twitter.com/Jr5keZt0AX
— BBC Oxford Sport (@bbcoxfordsport) February 14, 2021
After a delay of almost an hour the game restarted at 5.45pm with three goals in the second half. Callum Lang put Wigan ahead in the 57th minute with a smart turn and finish from a George Johnston pass. Oxford striker Sam Winnall levelled the game on 72 minutes, heading in at the far post from Brandon Barker’s pinpoint’s cross before Oxford centre back Elliott Moore bundled in the winner seven minutes from time, stabbing home from four yards.
The defeat leaves Wigan in the bottom four while Oxford extended their recent winning run to just one defeat in 16 games.
Wigan manager Leam Richardson was frustrated with the way Latics conceded twice after taking the lead.
“We should have been stronger and we conceded two goals that were disappointing.” he said.
“Overall, I thought for 70 minutes we were worthy of something and in the last 15 or 20 minutes we self-destructed a little bit.”
Wigan’s next opponents are Hull on Wednesday 17 February. The Latics will hope for a repeat of July’s home game against the Tigers when they unbelievably ran out 8-0 winners – Wigan’s biggest ever league win.