Ewood Park

Scoring two top quality goals by Man of the Match Ben Marshall was the difference between Blackburn and Wigan at Ewood Park on Saturday afternoon.

Marshall blasted a 25-yard shot into the bottom corner and later exquisitely curled a another past Scott Carson after Jordan Rhodes provided Rovers second goal with a close range header.

Ivan Ramis had missed a first-half penalty for Latics before they took the lead through a James Perch volley just after half-time.

Wigan had been the better team in the opening half with new signings Andy Delort and William Kvist making their debuts. Callum McManaman once again looked lively and posed a major threat to the Rovers backline.

In fact, it was McManaman who might have scored with seven minutes of the first-half remaining when he jinked into the Rovers box and just when he was about to shoot his leg was caught by Alex Baptiste and referee Roger East awarded a spot kick.

With none of Latics usual penalty takers on the pitch, Ramis stepped up to take the spot kick but blazed the ball high over the crossbar.

Despite the miss Latics continued to dominate, McManaman had a shot well saved by Robinson before the winger sent in a cross which was headed over by Emmerson Boyce just before the interval.

Wigan continued to press at the beginning of the second-half and it was not long before they were ahead. Emyr Huws made inroads into the Rovers box before his cross was deflected out to Perch on the edge of the area and the former Newcastle defender’s shot found the bottom left corner of the net.

But in a crazy five minutes the game turned in Rovers favour. First Latics failed to clear Craig Conway’s cross and Marshall expertly chested the ball down and fired it into the bottom corner.

Three minutes later Rovers were controversially awarded a free-kick when it appeared that McManaman had been fouled rather than committed a foul. From the resulting set piece the prolific Rhodes headed Conway’s cross past Scott Carson to leave Latics in a state of shock.

The visitors were stunned by the turn of events and the home team now took control. Marshall was denied by Carson’s spectacular one-handed save and Varney nearly got on the end of Marcus Olsson’s low cross.

Nine minutes from time Rovers sealed the victory when Marshall capped his Man of the Match display when he picked up Olsson’s pass and superbly curled a low shot into the right corner.

The difference between the two sides had been in the final third were Rovers and in particular Marshall were excellent while Latics struggled to penetrate.

Rovers now move up to eighth in the table and Wigan drop down to 16th. Latics must move onto Huddersfield Town on Tuesday night knowing that a win is essential if they are to get their season back on track.