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.
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