Watson heads Underdogs to Victory in FA Cup final

pic via: the guardian

Ben Watson will forever have his name etched into FA Cup Final folklore as his last minute Cup winning header gave Wigan Athletic their first major trophy in their 81 year club history. Dave Whelan the Wigan Athletic chairman finally got some closure at Wembley too, as the Latics Chairman saw his footballing career end abruptly during the 1960 FA Cup final between Blackburn Rovers and Wolverhampton Wanderers . As the Bradford born Whelan had his leg broken in the first half of that year’s final and his Blackburn side went on to lose 3-0. So 53 years after he saw his dreams go up in smoke of lifting the famous cup as a player, he finally lifted it as a Chairman and was the best day of his life.

Pre game talk was Manchester City Manager Roberto Mancini, changing his mind on his team selection that played on the day. As all week he had admitted to the media that he was going to play Costel Pantilimon in goals for the final as he had played in every round of this year`s FA Cup that saw City on route to the final. Mancini though, had decided he would play his First choice goalkeeper in Joe Hart and completely shocked people by his sudden change of hart (no pun intended). When asked if Pantilimon was upset with the decision to pull him at the last minute and be replaced by the England goalie Mancini replied, "He Understand`s the situation, i think he is ok with it but you would have to ask him”

Both teams were lined up in the tunnel and ready to be led out by their managers, but Wigan on this occasion let Dave Whelan led his side out on to the hallow turf of Wembley instead. Manchester City were the overwhelming favourites to win the cup final as Wigan hadn`t beaten City since the 2008 season ,so it seemed like it was just a matter of Manchester City turning up and steamrollering their way past Wigan, However that was far far from what took place. Once everything was ok for the referee Andre Marriner, he blew for the start of the game and the Cup Final was under way.

First action of the game saw Manchester City`s Spanish playmaker David Silva take a weak shot on the Wigan goal, as James McArthur had put a block on the effort and looked like City were going to be in charge of the game early on, as they dominated possession in the opening 10 minutes of the game.

Pic: bbc sports

Attacks were rare early on but City had a free kick about 10 yards outside the penalty area took by Carlos Tevez, his effort was blocked by the Wigan wall with the ball falling to Yaya Toure who took a quick shot on goal and Joel Robles made a save off it in the Latics goal. Wigan then had a great chance to take the lead as Callum McManaman had the ball crossed to him by Kone, and when a first time shot seemed the best option he decided to move it on to his left foot and his attempted curler went just past the far post as it went wide of the City goal much to the relief of the all the Blues fans behind that goal.

City had the ball for long stages but weren`t doing much with it at all, but they managed to get half chance, as a shot on goal by Silva was saved by Joel but he palmed it out in front of goal to an oncoming Pablo Zabeleta steaming in the box and was blocked by Joel, though it wouldn`t have counted as the flag went up for offside on him. City really struggled to unlock the Wigan defence and the passing was all too predictable by them as they played down the middle and the Latics frustrated the blues with their tactics as they knew what to expect from them as they caught on quick. Those in Blue shirts were running out of ideas of what to do with the ball and so when the ball was the feet of Nastasic from nearer the halfway line, the Serbian defender unleashed a shot that seemed more like a drop goal attempt with the height he put on it, as it went harmlessly wide and shown they were clearly frustrated and shown how tactically sound Roberto Martinez had been drumming it into his players prior to the game on defending as a tight unit.

Wigan then began to get a foothold in the game as their confidence was growing by every passing minute in the game. Latics main men were Kone, McManaman and Espinoza, as they were pulling City apart going forward. And the normally solid back line for City seemed to wobble as Espinoza was giving Zabaleta a torrid time down the right flank and McManaman was cutting to ribbons Clichy down the left side and you wondered if he would be taken off or would Mancini have him get some help down that flank, as the defense was left exposed a few times and the Blues had no answer to them.

pic: yahoo sports

However the score remained 0-0 and for the attacking threat they posed on their opponents, Wigan themselves weren`t exactly testing Joe Hart in goals either. Tevez came very close to breaking the deadlock, as play in the Wigan area by Samir Nasri spotted the Argentina striker free and his pass was just too wide to get decent contact on, and the striker did well to get any type of shot away as his attempt was saved by the toe of the keeper boot and went out of play and Joel kept his side in it still.

Hearts were in the collective mouths of the Manchester City fans and players, when Roger Espinoza went down in the area from a coming together between him and Zabeleta near the 5 yard area. However the Wigan striker made no appeal for the penalty and on replays it was touch and go as it could have been given as there was a slight contact with the defenders back leg, but also the player went down too prior to the touch. So City got away with one you could say, Callum McManaman then ran rings around the defense as he dashed into the box and was pulling defenders out of position and had Joe Hart diving around as the Scottish Midfielder feigned to shoot, so when he did finally shoot, it was blocked by the defense and gave a clear signal that this game wasn`t like a few people and pundits predicted it be like before the game.

Kone had a try for Wigan but his effort was very poor as the ball went into the arms of Joe Hart who had nothing to do all game hardly. Gareth Barry then tested out Joel again, as his shot from 14 yards out was collected easily by the goalkeeper. He also produced a stop from a fierce Nasri drive which he calmly stopped too, so both teams went into the break at 0-0 with City thankfully Wigan didn`t take their chances .While Wigan went in thinking they had weathered a few good attacks and were able to get show that they weren`t pushovers and could cause trouble for the Blues too.

Second half got under way and saw Wigan almost take the lead after McManaman had picked out James McCarthy but his effort went harmlessly went wide of Hart goal. City had a good spell of play in a couple of minutes , as first Tevez had found room down the Latics left and his fizzing ball across the penalty area was cut out by Boyce at the near post to stop Sergio Aguero getting a touch. That play gave the fans behind that particular goal dressed in sky blue ,hope that they were coming into the game more now. Vincent Kompany went close from the resulting corner from a David Silva corner, as his header was deflected just over the bar by a black shirt but the referee didn`t notice that and so gave a goal kick. City started to get the ball more again and retained the ball better, but yet again they failed in their efforts to break down Martinez`s men at the back.

Roberto Mancini made his first subsitution as Nasri was replaced by James Milner as Nasri was ineffective in the game. So with Milner coming on that meant the Yorkshire man could use his pace to try and pull the Latics defense out of position as he has hurt many teams doing that at the Etihad Stadium this season.

City thought they should have had a penalty as well, when Carlos Tevez flicked the ball in the area towards Sergio Aguero and the Argentinian looked to be tripped up by Paul Schaner in the area as the Wigan defender seemed to lose his footing and as he fell down accidently clipped the back of Aguero`s heels. Protests coming from the diminutive striker and fans behind that goal fell on deaf ears as Marriner wasn`t interested. 

pic: daily mail

Kone had an effort cut out by Kompany as Wigan were threatening without looking likely to score. McManaman once again was ripping Clichy apart and his cross to the striker was miscontrolled by Kone , as he failed to latch on it and so the ball was cleared away by the Man City captain who was the man of the match for City. City made their 2nd change of the game , as off came Carlos Tevez who was arguably their most attacking player  on the pitch and swapped him for Jack Rodwell. A move which puzzled a few and had Tevez bemused by it too, Rodwell nearly scored soon after as he had a header from a Milner free kick go just over the bar and this game had a feeling of the next goal would win this match. The City defenders were sick of the sight of McManaman now, as he was running the show for Wigan and so when he was on a break up field, Nastasic took him down and in doing so took one for the team as he fouled him near the edge of the penalty area. 

Shaun Maloney took the free kick and his freak effort almost caught Joe Hart out in the nets , As it clipped the top of the bar and went out for a throw in on the far side it was nearly like Ronaldinho`s goal for Brazil v England in the World Cup back in 2002, As it had Hart beat all ends up if it had dropped in. Kompany was switched on at the back for the Blue shirts as he was clearing up his team mate’s mistakes and was was not very happy with Clichy as he was being made to look stupid.

Wigan Athletic then brought on Ben Watson for Jordi Gomez  just to give the Latics a bit more steel in the midfield and push Wigan on a bit in the final stages. City were just casually passing the ball around when Gareth Barry underhit pass across the middle of the pitch, was ran onto by that man McManaman and the Scot looked to be on his way towards goals as he ran at the defense. That was till  Pablo Zabaleta came in with a late tackle just as McManaman had knocked the ball on ahead and in the process brought him down to the deck. So as soon as he made the challenge he knew he was in deep trouble, And so once the Argentinian defender stood up to receive his fate, Referee Andre Marriner held the yellow card up followed by a red card. Zabaleta became only the 2nd player in FA Cup Finals history to be Red Carded, and was the first time in 28 years since Kevin Moran for Manchester United was shown the red against Everton back in 1985. 

Pic :whoateallthepies

Zabaleta was going absolutely ballistic at Barry as he was walking off as his pass led to the play that resulted in his downfall. Wigan had a fantastic chance now with the extra man advantage, so with McManaman dancing round Clichy for the umpteenth time in the game he appealed for a penalty, as he felt he had been impeded by the City man. Time was approaching 90 minutes on the clock and we were heading to extra time, Wigan had a corner and chance to get a winner. The Corner was crossed in and was met by substitute Ben Watson as his header went crashing past Joe Hart and gave Wigan a deserved but equally shock lead right at  the death. The Underdogs had took the lead and the players revelled in the goal as the Wigan coaching staff along with Dave Whelan , who was sat in the executive boxes at Wembley. Wembley went bananas in the Wigan end mainly as it exploded with noise and celebrations as the team was close to producing a shock bigger arguably than Wimbledon beating Liverpool back in 1988. 

Pic: via Metro

Play restarted to the sounds of 3 additional minutes being added on and City made their last change with Gareth Barry coming off for a striker who was well known for his late goals in Edin Dzeko. It was far too late to make any type of impact or recovery on this game and so the referee blew time and Wigan Athletic were FA Challenge cup winners of 2013, and the underdogs had beaten their massive favourites. All that was left to do now was for Wigan to walk the stairs and grab that famous Cup a hold it loft in view of their fans who had travelled down to watch them, and will now play European football for the first time in their history too next season, as they take part in the Europa League.