Chapter 587: Small Club Mentality!

The whistle followed shortly afterwards as Wigan walked towards the tunnel with three goals conceded.

And for the first time in a long while, the league leaders looked genuinely uncomfortable.

Across the country, televisions had begun switching over to the Bournemouth match.

The league table had made Wigan interesting, and their recent form had made them a story.

Now, with the leaders trailing 3–1 to eleventh-placed Bournemouth, plenty of people were watching to see whether the slide would continue.

"They have been second best," one analyst said in the Sky Sports studios.

"There’s no dressing that up. Bournemouth have been more aggressive, they’ve attacked the spaces better, and Wigan haven’t looked comfortable dealing with it."

Another analyst leaned forward.

"But this is where Dawson has to earn his money. They’ve got forty-five minutes to change the game."

When Wigan returned for the second half, the shape had changed.

The more open midfield arrangement was abandoned for the two-pivot system they had relied upon for much of the season, and the difference was noticeable.

Wigan had more protection in front of the centre-backs, more control over second balls and a clearer structure when they lost possession.

Most importantly, Leo had someone behind him.

Tiehi’s presence gave him more freedom to move forward without constantly worrying about covering the space behind him; with that, Wigan began to gain more stability.

Bournemouth still had opportunities, but the frantic nature of the first half had disappeared.

The game became more controlled as Wigan would have liked it, but the goal just didn’t come.

Then Dawson made another change.

Jake replaced Will Keane, and he had barely been on the pitch for a few minutes when the ball broke loose inside the Bournemouth penalty area.

Jake threw himself towards it, only to find his first attempt blocked, but he swung right again, and this time the shot took a deflection and changed direction completely, leaving Neto with no chance.

"Ohhhh, goallll. Life, back in this now and the latics are within one!"

The away supporters exploded, but Bournemouth responded by throwing everything into the match after the restart.

For the next twenty minutes, the game became a contest of nerve.

One attack belonged to Bournemouth and right after that, the next belonged to Wigan.

Both keepers were called to action multiple times, and they did so expertly, keeping their teams from conceding.

As the match went on, Leo ventured forward more, sending some line-breaking passes that were just not good enough or too adventurous sometimes.

When he played it well enough too, the finish was just never there.

Neither side seemed willing to accept what the scoreboard was telling them.

But as the clock moved towards the final minutes, Bournemouth began to retreat.

They stopped committing as many players forward, and their priority became keeping the lead.

By the 88th minute, Bournemouth were almost entirely concerned with defending their penalty area.

The home supporters could feel the pressure building and began willing their team over the finish line.

Then Ezra received the ball on the right.

He looked up and looked past Bouremouth’s Ouattara and saw Femi Seriki already running beyond him.

Ezra waited until the right-back had created enough separation before slipping the ball into his path, and with his right foot left behind, Seriki dragged the ball to his stride.

He reached the edge of the area, shifted the ball onto his left foot, causing Zabirnyi to commit, but the moment the Ukrainian lunged, Femi Seriki, like a man winger, cut the ball back onto his right foot before smashing the ball.

"SERIKI!"

Neto dropped down quickly, but he hadn’t even seen when the ball smashed right past his feet and into the back of the net.

The ball kissed the inside of the far post before settling in the net.

"WIGAN HAVE EQUALISED! It is level at the death."

The away end erupted as the Wigan players sprinted towards Seriki, who disappeared beneath a pile of away fans.

From two goals down, Wigan had somehow rescued another point.

The referee eventually brought the game to an end, leaving both sides, but the Wigan ones particularly, exhausted.

Their third draw in four league matches, and once again, it didn’t take long for the flames to be fanned.

Despite Arsenal and Liverpool also dropping points that day, most of the conversation remained about Wigan.

The narrative had already taken hold.

And the following morning, the discussion continued on Sky Sports.

The Bournemouth highlights played across the studio screen while the panel examined Wigan’s recent results.

"Look at where they are now," one pundit said.

"They’ve gone from looking untouchable to looking vulnerable in a matter of weeks."

"But they’ve also just come back from 3–1 down away from home," another replied. "That has to count for something."

"It does," the first pundit said.

"But you have to look at the bigger picture. They are drawing games they probably expect to win now.

Earlier in the season, they were beating Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea, Tottenham. They went toe-to-toe with the big sides and came out on top."

He gestured towards the screen.

"Now they’re struggling against Bournemouth. Not to put them down, but with the quality they’ve shown, Wigan should be coming out on top."

"Arsenal lost against Brighton, but we weren’t doing them like this," an analyst who looked fed up with the whole situation said.

At that, the room went a bit silent before the other analyst considered it.

"Could it simply be fatigue?"

"Maybe. It could be pressure. It could be injuries. It could be teams figuring them out. There are a lot of possibilities."

The first pundit leaned back.

"But I think there’s something simpler happening here."

"They’ve been at the top for a long time now. Everyone has spent months telling us how extraordinary this Wigan side is, how they’ve come from nowhere, how they’ve beaten everyone. Eventually, English football puts pressure on you."

He paused.

"And maybe this is what we’re seeing."

The second pundit frowned slightly as the latter went on.

"I think it was bound to happen."

The words sat for a moment.

"A small club can have an incredible run. We’ve seen it before. But staying at the top is different. The pressure is different. The expectation is different. And eventually, a team with a small mentality can start to feel that."