The royal blues sealed promotion to the big leagues with an emphatic 4-1 victory in a match that had everything; goals, misses, sublime passing, defensive errors, fights, cards and even a little sing song.
The game begun in a surprisingly relaxed fashion, despite what was riding on the game, however it wasn't long until the drama began and Fairlands turned on the gas cooker. Some exquisite passing and movement between Rowe and Chester fashioned out the first big chance of the game. A neat one-two and cross between the pair managed to find top scorer Legate at the back post however, as unfortunate as his trip to the barbers, it cannoned back of the post.
Fairlands pressure soon told, as after neat build up play between the midfield, Legate picked out Gentleman who rifled the ball in to the top corner, achieving his aim of scoring in his last game before he deserts the team for some sun and sex.
Unathletic tried desperatley to weather the storm with a number of late challenges. Many of their boots seemed to find parts of Rowe's body that even he didnt know existed. The 'red card football' tactic Wigan employed began to tell, particularly on Rowe and Chester, who continuosly nibbled at their opponents like a fish on a line.
Despite Fairlands pressure, Wigan actually managed to get past the halfway line around the 15 minute mark. After winning a throw deep in Fairlands territory, they capitalised on a an extremeley rare lack of concentration in the blues defence, some said due to Gascoyne's "chinese eyes" impairing his vision, with an unamed midfielder striking the ball first time and firing through Glennon's legs.
The response from Fairlands was the stuff of dreams, as right from kick off, Powell set the tempo moving the ball upfield, taking it from Chester and finding Gentleman, who expertley managed to jink past the defender before unleashing an absolute thronker into the bottom corner. The Keeper was rooted to the spot.
Unathletic had nothing in reponse, with Gascoyne, Kingham and Powell putting excellent shifts in at the back, with Powell chanting during the game it was "easy like Sunday morning" and Kingham still searching to see if Wigan's key man "j" was hiding in his pocket somewhere.
The third goal killed off all of Wigan's hopes and all but sealed the game for Fairlands. Chester, as fast as his lookalike Linford Christie, absolutley caned it past a defender, cut it back at the byline for Legate, who, just like he has done all season, calmly carressed the ball into the net.
Fairlands soon turned on the style, bringing out rare flashes of brilliance like the world cup winning Brazil of the 70s. The Rowe and Chester partnership was on fire, particularly one movement in where Rowe stopped the ball on the line, preventing a corner, turned and picked out a xabi-esque 60 yard ping to Chester, whos first touch was like its been with the ladies all summer, superb. Chester, Legate and Powell also all fashioned out good chances which should have extended the lead further after excellent build up play.
The game was wrapped up with Chester scrambling the ball home for the fourth in typical sunday league fashion, however, with the game seemingly over, this was when the real drama began.
As Fairlands toyed with possesion, Rowe turned his man, who in reply, stuck out his large tree trunk of a leg and completley wiped Rowe out. This led to scenes a football pitch should never witness. The unknown defender, swung a right hook at Rowe as they both tumbled to the floor. Within seconds teammates were on the scene with Powell, like he was 12 again, frog splashing on top of the pair like a game of bundles to stop the rumble. As the pair came apart, consistant threats were shouted with rowe exclaiming "I'll take your fucking knee out son, these boys can't hold me back". The referee, who had a poor performance all game, decided to take a rare stance of action, firslty sending the defender off and then surprinsgly, after taking his beating, sending Rowe off. Both players now face at least a 2 game suspension and £30 fine.
Rowe said of the ref after the game "He's absolutley useless, he just doesn't like me. I beat him to a job at MBDA and this is how he gets his revenge? Its poor. He couldn't control a TV let alone a football match".
Despite the fireworks and rocky 6 attempt, Fairlands comfortably saw the game out and celebrated their victory at the final whistle, setting up a tasty showdown with SG Elites next week to claim the holy grail of the Powerplay Division 1 cup.
