Wigan 3 Fulham 3: Bryan Ruiz brace secures point for Cottagers as both sides see red

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Composed: Ruiz had to wait for three minutes before converting the equalising penalty late on

Standard Sport

1 November 2014

Sky Bet Championship strugglers Wigan and Fulham shared six goals and two red cards in a real thriller at the DW Stadium.

The home side led through Adam Forshaw's early penalty but trailed at the break as Lasse Vigen Christensen and then Bryan Ruiz netted inside five minutes.

Back came Wigan, who levelled through Roger Espinoza nine minutes after the restart.

After Ross McCormack had been red-carded for a second bookable offence, Wigan thought they had won it when substitute Shaun Maloney netted with his first touch with eight minutes to go.

But ex-Wigan man Hugo Rodallega was then tripped inside the area by Leon Barnett, who was also red-carded by referee James Adcock.

After a lengthy delay, Ruiz kept his cool to ensure honours ended even.

Wigan had gone into the game having drawn their last three home games 0-0, but their enterprising start saw them ahead within 10 minutes.

Don Cowie and Marc-Antoine Fortune had already gone close when Emyr Huws crossed towards Fortune at the far post.

The big striker could not aim his effort goalwards but it fell to Callum McManaman, who was tripped in the box by Konstantinos Stafylidis.

Wigan had missed their previous two spot-kicks but this time Forshaw stepped up and sent the ball straight down the middle of the goal.

Centre-back Barnett had a couple of decent chances to make it 2-0 but failed to take advantage.

And the visitors gradually gained a foothold in the game and started to ask questions as George Williams got to the byline but Rodallega saw his shot deflected over

Wigan nearly doubled their lead when Fortune charged through the left channel only to see Marcus Bettinelli produce a great save at the expense of a corner.

But Fulham were level on the half-hour mark when Christensen held off Barnett and took it round Scott Carson before slotting home.

Wigan were then indebted to Carson for keeping out a low shot from Rodallega, with the visitors claiming a handball against Barnett in the aftermath.

But Fulham continued to press and were ahead 10 minutes before half-time when McCormack crossed for Ruiz to chest home from a yard.

Wigan came out brightly in the second half and they were level through Espinoza's cracking strike from 25 yards nine minutes after the restart.

It was real end-to-end stuff at this point and Carson was again called into action to deny McCormack at the far post.

McCormack was cautioned for needlessly going in late on James Tavernier by the Wigan dead-ball line and it was a costly error as he was soon shown his second yellow for an altercation with James McClean on the far touchline that saw the Irishman also booked.

Wigan sent on Maloney for the last 10 minutes, and the Scot scored immediately scored with his first touch to give Wigan what looked to be the winning goal.

But there was to be a sting in the tail inside the last five minutes as Rodallega raced through only to be tripped inside the box by Barnett for a clear penalty.

After the Wigan man was sent off, Ruiz kept his cool to level the scores and rescue a point for his side.

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Wigan 3 Fulham 3: Bryan Ruiz brace secures point for Cottagers as both sides see red

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