Case for the defence

Nicholas: felt draw would have been fair

Wheater was outstanding again and I would have to think he would be in the England squad.

Charlie Nicholas
Quotes of the week

Related links

Teams

• Middlesbrough
• Wigan Athletic

Also see

• Match Report

Wigan 0-1 Middlesbrough
Soccer Saturday analysis

Charlie Nicholas says Middlesbrough's centre-backs deserve all of the plaudits after their 1-0 win at Wigan.

Jeremie Aliadiere earned Middlesbrough's first away points of the season - and their first away win of 2008 - with a 90th-minute goal to break the hearts of Wigan and their supporters at the JJB Stadium.

But while Aliadiere might steal the headlines, Nicholas feels Boro's defensive duo of David Wheater and Chris Riggott were the real stars of the show for Gareth Southgate.

He told Soccer Saturday: "Middlesbrough weathered the storm in the first 20 minutes, took the heat out of the game and produced the highlight of the game with the goal from Aliadiere which was a lovely cool finish; really smart.

"But the defending of Middlesbrough was absolutely first-class. Wheater and Riggott in particular had to sit deep as the crosses were coming in and they were facing people like Emile Heskey and Paul Scharner who are powerful - so you know you're going to have to take a hit and be brave.

"The two of them were absolutely immense. The goalkeeper Ross Turnbull played well, but the two centre-backs were absolutely magnificent today.

"I don't think either team deserved to win it, a draw would have been a fair reflection, but after all the bad luck and all the late goals they've conceded, this is a big three points for them."

Dead cert

Nicholas was so impressed with youngster Wheater that he says he is should be a dead cert for Fabio Capello's England squad for the forthcoming World Cup qualifiers.

The England boss was at the JJB to watch the likes of Emile Heskey and Stewart Downing, but Nicholas feels Wheater will certainly have caught his attention.

"Downing did alright and he was watching Heskey as well, " Nicholas continued.

"But he has to be impressed with Wheater. There's no doubt that Rio Ferdinand and John Terry are outstanding individuals, but this lad when asked to play a normal old-fashioned style centre-back's role is fantastic.

"And also he likes to get in that opposition's box. He's not quite Nemanja Vidic, but he's a guy who's prepared to go and try to commit himself to it.

"He was outstanding again and I would have to think he would be in the squad."

Decent

Nicholas felt Wigan were unlucky to come away from the game with nothing, but says you cannot begrudge Boro the win after so much late heartbreak in games earlier this season.

"Wigan played well, they didn't play outstandingly well, there was a couple of decent performances but when they got to the last third today they lacked the magic final pass. They didn't quite get their shots on target.

"It wasn't a bad performance and they'll probably feel they were quite unlucky to lose it, but overall it was a single goal from Aliadiere that won the points for Boro.

"I don't think anybody can deny Boro were due a bit of luck - although I wouldn't say they were lucky exactly. They took advantage of situations without playing outstandingly well.

"They can't always rely on this defence. It can give them so much but they've got to eventually get more people in the box and get chances.

"If they do that they will become a better side."