Wigan Athletic captain James Carragher has called on his team-mates to be at their best in today’s early kick-off derby against Bolton Wanderers.
With club captain Jason Kerr out with a knee injury, Carragher will captain the side for this huge clash.
Wigan Athletic come into this off the back of a 1-0 memorable win, also in a derby, over Championship side Preston North End.
If anybody knows what it means to pull on the shirt, it’s Carragher, who has been at the Latics for almost 10 years.
Following almost a decade of wins, Ryan Lowe’s side have lost their last two derbies with Bolton Wanderers.
“Having come through the Academy, I’ve been involved in a few games now through the age levels – some good and some not so good!” Carragher said to Wigan Today
“One thing is we know the fans will turn up, and what we need to do as players is make sure we turn up and match them.”
“The first one I was properly involved in was last season, when we won 2-0 at their place.”
“Obviously the last two we’ve lost…the first one, here at the end of last season, I was involved in…but I was injured for the game earlier this season.”
“Hopefully we can bounce back and outclass them, like they did to us a couple of months ago. That was a bad day at the office for us, and hopefully it will be a bad day at the office for them this time.”
“Games like that can only act as added motivation for us going into this game, in terms of wanting to put one over them.”
“What we can’t do is focus too much on the poor performance that day, it will be more about the brilliant game last weekend at Preston, and trying to maintain that level.”
“With me being captain in the last few weeks, it’s on me to try to emphasise a little bit more – if it’s needed – how much this game means,” he continued.
“Obviously I’m not from the area, but having been at Wigan for so long, since the age of 14, I know exactly how much the fans are up for this one.”
“It affects them massively depending on the result, and hopefully they’ll be able to go out on Saturday night – or whatever they’re doing – knowing they can enjoy a good win.”
Carragher continued to praise the Wigan Athletic supporters:
“The fans are always vocal to be fair, especially in these derby games…that goes for supporters up and down the country in these games.”
“I’m sure they’ll be there in their numbers this weekend, making it a great atmosphere for us to play and not so great for the Bolton players to play.”
