Bramble was a thorn in the side of Benitez's charge to secure that fourth spot for Liverpool. This draw leaves them in the mix with Manchester City, Blackburn, fellow Scousers Everton, Portsmouth and Aston Villa.

Latics pulled themselves out of the relegation zone once again with a fantastic display against Liverpool. Apart from some moments of brilliance from Fernando Torres you could have been excused for thinking we were playing Newcastle again.

The team's game plan worked to perfection, closing down in midfield and sitting high up the pitch, a formula Liverpool didn't have an answer for.

The magnificent Michael Brown did what he does best, scurrying around the middle of the pitch giving Mascherano and Alonso no time to think. Gerrard did seem to be able to pick out a few passes, but only to offside players or Chris Kirkland.

The Liverpool goal came from such a pass out to Steve Finnan who crossed the ball for Torres who had left Bramble in his wake, before slotting past Kirkland.

The euphoria around the stadium was only drowned out by the relief that they had finally scored against little old Wigan.

The rest of the time it was like being in a library, one of those over the top libraries that hardly let you breathe heavily. For those who haven't been to a library, imagine a really quiet place with no atmosphere.

Once going behind Latics new it was going to be an uphill struggle, especially against a team that we have never even scored against in 5 attempts.

But to their credit they stuck to the game plan, didn't let their heads go down and found a way through via a fantastic free kick from Denny Landzaat. Heskey got his head to it but Steve Gerrard was the first to the ball.

Gerrard managed to half clear the ball straight to Bramble, who pulled out a world class volley to give Reina no chance, 1-1 and ten minutes to go.

Silence ensued again and Latics saw the game out. In fact not only see it out but also have the last attempt which could have won the game, wow would that have sent the critics crazy.....

The match as a whole wasn't the most entertaining, even if the result was. But efforts from both teams could have sealed all three points. Brown saw a tremendous strike sneak 2 inches on the wrong side of the post.

Ryan Taylor had Reina scrambling, but the free kick went painstaking over the bar. Antonio Valencia should have done better with his shot, after a neat one two with Denny Landzaat.

1-1 was the way it finished seeing Wigan get the big four hoodoo off our backs. Bramble's goal was his second into two games. Scharner's yellow card was his fifth and will see him miss the trip to Derby.

Report by Jason Taylor (www.cockneylatic.co.uk)