Media round-up: Wigan v Fulham

Here's how a selection of British newspapers saw our draw at the JJB Stadium.

Once again Fulham let an away win slip through their grasp and there was no doubt who the News of the World’s Jeremy Butler saw as the guilty party: Clint Dempsey.

The American striker had shown a “sharp-shooter’s eye” to fire the visitors ahead in the 11th minute, he wrote, but twice failed to finish off excellent second-half chances.

This gave the Latics a lifeline, noted Martin Palmer in The Observer, despite the home team having resembled “a boxer with both hands tied behind his back” once Emile Heskey limped off with a broken foot after just eight minutes.

Even so, for the vast majority of the match, the Londoners looked untroubled, thought Jon Culley in The Independent. “With Aaron Hughes giving an accomplished performance on a debut delayed by a pre-season injury, Fulham looked unlikely to concede even with Marcus Bent, Heskey’s replacement, launching his year-long loan from Charlton in determined style”, he wrote.

The Telegraph’s Mark Ogden agreed. The fact Fulham are without an away win in more than a year should have made them “arguably the perfect opponents to prove there can be life without Heskey”, he suggested, but yet it was Lawrie Sanchez’s team that carried the real goal threat.

Fulham certainly looked on course for the “rarest of things in football” – an away win for the side from Craven Cottage, wrote Gary Carter in the Sunday Express, but all that changed when Hameur Bouazza dragged down Mario Melchiot.

“Jason Koumas held his nerve and sent Antti Niemi the wrong way to earn a point – one they should never have got as Fulham created more than enough chances to seal an easy win”.

It could have been even worse for Fulham, pointed out Ken Lawrence in the Sunday Mirror, as Wigan very nearly snatched a dramatic winner: “The game was into injury time when (Paul) Scharner found himself unmarked from Emmerson Boyce’s cross but fired straight at Antti Niemi”.

Scott Watson, writing in The Times, branded the 1-1 draw as an “undeserved” point for Wigan, adding: “It was harsh on Fulham, who appear more resolute under Lawrie Sanchez”.

However, thre was at least one positive for the visitors, pointed out Martin Blackburn in The Sun: “At least they ended a dismal run of six straight defeats on the road, dating back to the end of Chris Coleman’s reign”.