Latics lose as Bouzanis sees red
Latics lost 1-0 to a David Cotterill goal on a night when goalkeeper Dean Bouzanis saw red in their rearranged npower League One match at Doncaster Rovers.
Midfield man Cotterill struck the all-important goal midway through the second half.
The game exploded in stoppage time when Bouzanis (pictured) and Doncaster's Iain Hume were both sent off after a clash which left referee Gary Sutton no option but to produce red cards to each player.
Midfield man Cotterill struck the all-important goal midway through the second half.
The game exploded in stoppage time when Bouzanis (pictured) and Doncaster's Iain Hume were both sent off after a clash which left referee Gary Sutton no option but to produce red cards to each player.
Little separated the two teams in the opening 20 minutes of the second period as they continued to cancel each other out.
The match then suddenly and unexpectedly exploded to life.
Sadly for Latics, it was Doncaster who seized the initiative and the lead.
Cliff Byrne came to Latics' rescue with a headed goalline clearance after Chris Brown's header from a Tommy Spurr long throw beat Bouzanis.
Cotterill's resulting corner was met by Rob Jones whose bullet header was brilliantly saved by Bouzanis low to his left.
The match then suddenly and unexpectedly exploded to life.
Sadly for Latics, it was Doncaster who seized the initiative and the lead.
Cliff Byrne came to Latics' rescue with a headed goalline clearance after Chris Brown's header from a Tommy Spurr long throw beat Bouzanis.
Cotterill's resulting corner was met by Rob Jones whose bullet header was brilliantly saved by Bouzanis low to his left.
The breakthrough came in the 68th minute when Cotterill whipped in a terrific free kick from the left which eluded the whole defence as it found the far corner of the net.
Latics made a double substitution with 17 minutes left as Matt Smith and Cristian Montano replaced James Wesolowski and Jonathan Grounds.
Doncaster wasted two glorious chances in quick succession to increase their lead.
Bouzanis pulled off an excellent stop to keep out an angled shot from Hume and then Chris Brown raced through on goal only to shoot wide with only Bouzanis to beat.
There was drama in stoppage time when Bouzanis and Hulme were both sent off.
Hulme's foul on Connor Brown sparked the trouble as Bouzanis was shown the red card for raising his arms and shoving Hume who attempted to lift Brown off the floor.
Hulme also saw red as it was his second booking.
Latics were forced to bring on young Aussie keeper Liam Jacob in place of Lee Croft for his debut for the club.
Full-time: Doncaster Rovers 1, Latics 0.