Michael Flynn, Mamady Sidibe and Darius Henderson all caused Kelvin Davis, in the Ipswich goal, to be thankful they were not more accurate with their initial finishing. Henderson also got a bit over-enthusiastic, throwing himself to the ground in a vain penalty appeal when Davis dived to clutch the ball at his feet. The referee, correctly, took Henderson’s name for cheating.Little in Ipswich’s attacking gave any hint that this would be another high-scoring performance. Hopes had already been given a boost by the loan signings of James McEveley and Jonathan Douglas from Blackburn, both useful at this level.The spirit of revival was certainly apparent as Gillingham more than held their own in an impressive opening half. The six-goal trouncing that Ipswich inflicted upon Nottingham Forest a week ago seemed far removed from their inept performance at Priestfield Stadium yesterday, which assisted Gillingham in their new-found optimism that relegation can be avoided, especially as they are now out of the bottom three. With five minutes to go it came through Taylor, who looked in an offside position as he rose high to power James Perch’s cross past John Filan. However, a first half spent constantly disrupting supply lines and subduing attacks went to waste less than a minute after the break, a short-range drive by Roberts parried by Paul Gerrard into the path of Lee McCulloch, who fired Wigan into the lead with his 12th goal of the season.But nervy Wigan were struggling to contain the home side who, much to their credit, were looking purposeful and the more likely to score the next goal.

The City Ground erupted.Jewell said: “I felt that we were the better team throughout but did not hit the dizzy heights of what we were capable in a game that never really took off.”. Jewell was not impressed on 39 minutes when he saw Ellington blaze over after a good run by Roberts.Last week’s six-goal capitulation at the hands of Ipswich aside, Nottingham Forest under Megson have become a stronger outfit during his two months in charge. It could go to the wire, and we would settle for that because we have been playing catch-up for a while.”Despite a creditable draw against Leeds United during midweek, the signs were ominous early on against Wigan. Employing three centre-backs to cope with the threat of Nathan Ellington and Jason Roberts in attack, Forest looked uneasy but despite scant possession did their best to hamper Wigan’s forward momentum.The nerves were beginning to show in the respective technical areas, Paul Jewell furiously pacing his, with highly animated opposite number Megson, relieving his frustration with a bout of finger-pointing directed at the referee. In the last two games, I have seen a team have a real good go.”We have got to keep going and we are nearer [to survival] than we were four weeks ago. But, after scraping an unlikely draw against title hopefuls Wigan, he immediately declared himself ready for more tense afternoons between now and May.
Megson watched his relegation-threatened side, who have now lost just one game in nine – a 6-0 drubbing at Ipswich last week – secure a crucial point through a late goal from Gareth Taylor, which in turn saw Wigan slip from the top of the table.”Everyone had this down as an away win but we have managed to take something from the game,” a proud Megson said “We deserve credit for battling away. If Gary Megson needed any indication as to the effect Nottingham Forest’s relegation scrap was having on him, he need only look at the number of his own chewing gum wrappers strewn about the technical area.

Solid defence is the key quality under Mark Hughes and a goalless draw was widely predicted.Rovers had kept five clean sheets in an unbeaten run of six games, so it came as a surprise that Andy Todd and Ryan Nelsen, whose partnership has been impressive, should leave a yawning gap when Ashley Cole turned cleverly and supplied Van Persie for the decisive goal.Blackburn lost their momentum and it took until stoppage time for a real chance of an equaliser, Paul Dickov’s dummy allowing Pedersen’s pass to zip through to Reid, who reacted well to the opportunity but dragged his shot wide.. They looked the stronger force in the first half but, apart from a long-range shot by Reid and a header by Morten Gamst Pedersen that Jens Lehmann plucked from under the bar, did not create enough.That was to be expected, perhaps, from the side with the joint poorest scoring record in the Premiership. “It was a test for them against a side who made the game very physical and on a pitch that was not the best. There were some moments when their inexperience showed but we did not give too many chances away, apart from the last minute when [Steven] Reid was through.”That was Blackburn’s disappointment.