Sunday, May 20th, 2012
Hartlepool v Wigan is an intriguing Carling Cup 2nd Round tie.
Hartlepool United are in the curious situation of not having lost this season, but having lost manager Chris Turner.
While Wigan Athletic have been cut apart 6-0 and 4-0 in their opening two matches.
Hartlepool: 11/4 with Betfred, Draw: 12/5 with Stan James, Wigan: 21/20 with Victor Chandler
Despite Chris Turner’s hasty exit, it has been a decent season for Hartlepool, who are now in the hands of the very much travelled Mick Wadsworth. They drew with Rochdale, knocked Sheffield United out of this competition, let a 2-0 lead slip v Swindon, but won at Yeovil on Saturday. They do have some dangerous players, in forward James Brown and winger Andy Monkhouse, who can produce moments of genuine quality with long range shooting or beating players.
Wigan obviously have a confidence issue after their maulings, and they might be tempted to throw new signing Steven Caldwell straight in despite a lack of match practice. The Latics also have a poor record at this stage of the competition. Maynor Figueroa is ruled out and there could be several players rested, rather than given a chance to get some confidence back. We’ll see a good test of their squad depth and desire this evening.
Sportnewsbase.com recommends: Lay Wigan over the 90 minutes on Betfair or if you like the fixed odds go for 12/5 with Stan James on the draw.