Wigan repeat Cup final upset to knock out City
11 March 2014 6:21 AM IST
The Championship team, who stunned City 1-0 in last season’s final, will now face Arsenal in a Wembley semifinal, having endured an anxious final 25 minutes after Samir Nasri reduced the arrears.
The pre-game consensus may have been that there was little danger of history repeating itself, but it took Wigan less than half an hour to raise that possibility at the Etihad Stadium.
City conceded an unnecessary penalty, courtesy of the latest in a series of errors from centre-back Martin Demichelis, who was beaten by Marc-Antoine Fortune and compounded the error with a blatant trip.
The home side offered little protest and Gomez, one of four survivors from last year’s final in Wigan’s line-up, showed impressive poise by sending goalkeeper Costel Pantilimon the wrong way from the penalty spot.
The lead was just about a deserved one for the visitors, superbly organised by their manager Rosler, the former City striker, who patrolled the touchline barking instructions.
Before the interval, three City players wrestled Callum McManaman to the ground as he weaved into the home half, with tempers flaring.
Matters were about to become far more serious for City with barely a minute gone in the second half as Wigan claimed a second goal that, again, owed much to laxity in the home side’s defending. Exploiting further hesitancy in the City rearguard, James Perch sped in ahead of Gael Clichy at the back post and slid the ball home to double Wigan’s lead.
The pressure was mounting, and it finally told in the 68th minute when Nasri handed City a foothold in the tie.
The pre-game consensus may have been that there was little danger of history repeating itself, but it took Wigan less than half an hour to raise that possibility at the Etihad Stadium.
City conceded an unnecessary penalty, courtesy of the latest in a series of errors from centre-back Martin Demichelis, who was beaten by Marc-Antoine Fortune and compounded the error with a blatant trip.
The home side offered little protest and Gomez, one of four survivors from last year’s final in Wigan’s line-up, showed impressive poise by sending goalkeeper Costel Pantilimon the wrong way from the penalty spot.
The lead was just about a deserved one for the visitors, superbly organised by their manager Rosler, the former City striker, who patrolled the touchline barking instructions.
Before the interval, three City players wrestled Callum McManaman to the ground as he weaved into the home half, with tempers flaring.
Matters were about to become far more serious for City with barely a minute gone in the second half as Wigan claimed a second goal that, again, owed much to laxity in the home side’s defending. Exploiting further hesitancy in the City rearguard, James Perch sped in ahead of Gael Clichy at the back post and slid the ball home to double Wigan’s lead.
The pressure was mounting, and it finally told in the 68th minute when Nasri handed City a foothold in the tie.
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