blog.great-save.com

By Danny Wright

Emile Heskey struck a last gasp equaliser for Wigan to shun Chelsea’s fading title hopes in a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge. The result leaves Chelsea trailing leaders Manchester United United by five points ahead of Thursday night’s away clash at Everton with matches rapidly running out for under-fire Avram Grant. Chelsea had the lion share of possession and chances in a fruitless first half, in which the best chance fell to Nicolas Anelka, who had his looping header brilliantly saved by an in-form Chris Kirkland.

The two sides entered half-time level and Joe Cole was introduced to inject some life into the Chelsea attack, and the England man inspired the Blues; first John Terry crashed a header against the upright and then Michael Essien was somehow foiled by Kirkland, but it was the Ghanaian who found the break through a fine side-footed strike from the edge of the box. Many thought the floodgates would open but Wigan had other ideas as Paul Scharner was denied by a stitched up Petr Cech and Heskey rocked the Bridge in the 90th minute with his close range volley.

Chelsea’s youngsters also endured a miserable mid-week, going down 3-1 at Manchester City to lose the FA Youth Cup Final 4-2 on aggregate. A crowd of over 19,000 showed at the City of Manchester Stadium to witness some of the Premier League’s future talents, of which there was plenty on show, with the good news being the majority of the players were born on these very waters.

In the Championship, Sheffield Wednesday hauled themselves out of the relegation zone with a 1-1 draw at home to play-off hopefuls Plymouth. Peter Halmosi’s deflected free kick gave the Pilgrims the lead but Tommy Spurr crashed in a superb long range effort to level. Elsewhere, West Brom went top with a 1-0 win over Wolves in the Black Country derby, meanwhile Hull recorded an impressive 3-1 away victory at Barnsley to go second in front of the Sky cameras. Dean Marney, Ian Ashbee and Dean Windass bagged the goals for the Tigers, who are targeting their first ever appearance in the top flight.