Latics run of success continues

Last updated : 06 December 2006 By The Chairman
The Latics run of success continues as they chalked up their seventh successive league and FA Cup win. Chris Porter once again did the damage to Crewe when he stroked the ball home from 12 yards just on the stroke of half time. Les Pogliacomi made some match winning saves in the second half but the defence held strong for long enough for the Latics to gain another valuable three points.

Boss John Sheridan confessed to the official site, "Les Pogliacomi has made a wonder save, and Chris Porter was in the right place at the right time and came up with a great finish. That's what they get paid for. The lads worked hard for each other again tonight and I think the first half is as good as any we've played this season. The tempo was good, we got the ball wide and passed it very well. I think you'll get a few scrappy games like this one. Perhaps we've been spoilt with the run we've been on. I've told the lads that this is a brilliant result, but if we're going to go anywhere we can't go to sleep and take our foot off the pedal like we did in the second half. Crewe are a very good side and if you let them play they're one of the best in this division. We were excellent in the first half and totally dominated but got a bit sloppy in the second half. However, that's always going to happen in spells when you're playing consistently well. Although we let them into the game in the second half, they only really created one chance which Les responded to, and that was pleasing. We deserved to win. We've set the standard now and if we're going to go anywhere as a team then little things make good players. I'll keep on at the lads even though we're winning. I try to look at individuals and how to make them better players."

Super red-hot striker Chris Porter (pictured) smashed home a left footed drive which he describes as his "best goal of the season". He said, "I'm definitely happy with the result. It was probably my best goal of the season and I think up until that point we were starting to get frustrated, thinking that maybe it was going to be one of those days. We struggled slightly in the second half and I personally felt quite tired. Maybe that's down to the pitch being a bit heavier than usual. We're now in a great position ahead of the Christmas programme but I'm still not setting myself any targets goal-wise."