Wigan vs Blackburn Rovers 5-3 Goal Highlights 15-12-2007

Premier League

Goals: Landzaat 10’, Bent 12’, Scharner 37’, Bent 66’, 81’ - Santa Cruz 45’, 50’, 61’

Marcus Bent and Roque Santa Cruz both scored hat-tricks but it was Wigan Athletic striker Bent who was left celebrating victory after Steve Bruce's struggling side recovered from the shock of conceding a three-goal lead to claim a thrilling 5-3 Premier League win over ten-man Blackburn Rovers at the JJB Stadium here Saturday.

Despite this victory, their first in 15 matches, Wigan remained in the bottom three but moved six points clear of bottom-of-the-table Derby.

Wigan appeared on course for a routine win after Denny Landzaat, Bent and Paul Scharner gave the home side a comfortable advantage after just 36 minutes but Santa Cruz's 16-minute treble either side of the break wiped out the lead before two more strikes from Bent finally settled the clash.

The Latics' cause was made a lot easier by the 57th minute dismissal of Brett Emerton for a second yellow card and South Africa international striker Benni McCarthy's missed penalty in the first half.

But with his side rooted in the bottom three, Bruce can only have been impressed by Wigan's resilience.

Bruce warned before this game that Wigan were entering a crucial stage of the season and set his side a target of ten points from their next six games to revive their survival hopes.

The manager knew that to achieve that aim, Wigan would have to shed their alarming habit of conceding early goals that marred Bruce's first two games in charge at the JJB Stadium.

And the former Birmingham boss could not have wished for a better response as Wigan not only nullified the early Blackburn threat, they raced into a two-goal lead inside 12 minutes to quickly put the strugglers in control.

Bent had already missed an excellent opportunity in the fourth minute, but the forward made up for that error six minutes later when his flick sent Landzaat clear and the Dutchman slotted home with ease.

Two minutes later and Wigan were cruising thanks once again to Bent's persistence after Blackburn skipper Ryan Nelsen made an uncharacteristic error and failed to clear Scharner's headed clearance. The striker moved quickly onto the loose ball and Rovers keeper Brad Friedel was once again left stranded.

Blackburn were rattled and looked anything but a side with Champions League aspirations but they were offered a route back into the game when Emile Heskey was harshly adjudged to have fouled Chris Samba only for McCarthy to miss the resulting spot-kick.

And that appeared a costly miss when Scharner connected with Ryan Taylor's drilled free-kick to head Wigan into a three-goal lead after just 36 minutes.

McCarthy and strike partner Santa Cruz were peripheral figures but the Paraguayan threw his side an unlikely lifeline on the stroke of half-time when he collected the ball from a throw in and struck an unstoppable volley beyond Chris Kirkland.

The goal was timely and if Santa Cruz's strike had injected self-doubt into the home side, his second, a close range volley after Kirkland had saved from his own defender Emmerson Boyce, left Wigan nerves even more frayed.

The momentum was suddenly with the visitors and affected only slightly by Brett Emerton sending off for a second yellow card. The Australian had been fortunate to last until half-time after twice bringing down Kevin Kilbane but his tangle with Taylor proved the final straw.

Still Blackburn surged forward and when Santa Cruz headed home from Stephen Warnock's 61st minute cross to level the scores it seemed inevitable that Rovers would find a winner.

Wigan though, responded superbly and were ahead once again five minutes later when Bent headed home from Antonio Valencia's right wing cross before completing his hat-trick - and a remarkable home win - nine minutes from time with a close range finish.