By the time the referee glanced at his watch, the pattern of the half had settled completely.
Fulham had seen plenty of the ball, but almost none of the spaces they wanted, while Wigan looked increasingly comfortable waiting for the one mistake that would allow them to spring forward.
Neither side, though, found the breakthrough before the interval as the whistle arrived with the scoreboard still untouched.
"Goalless at the break," the commentator said, "and I think goalless is the right word because both sides have had moments but neither has really tested the goalkeeper with anything that deserved a goal.
This has been a very cautious, very tactical first half and I suspect both managers have things to say during the interval."
"Cautious is polite," the co-commentator said. "Neither team is taking risks, and the crowd here can feel it, but if it keeps on like this, it can get very boring quickly for this crowd that had come expecting a spectacle."
