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MOTD- Manchester City 1-2 Wigan Athletic

By on March 9, 2014

By the time Manchester City realized that a chance to become FA Cup favorites and possibly revenge themselves for their loss in last season’s final to Wigan Athletic last season was slipping away from them it was already to late.  Wigan, who the former Premier League champions had been drawn with in the cup yet again, had already put in one of their finest performances in a long while to capitalize on City’s poor showing in the opening hour of the quarterfinal tie, but perhaps did even better in defending the 2-0 lead they amassed to seal them a spot in the semis against Arsenal.  All Wigan hope for is to be able to play as well as they did tonight when they host The Gunners.

The visitors, benefiting from a lackluster start from City, could have taken a lead just two minutes into the match through Jordi Gomez, only for the Spaniard to shank a shot over the bar after Martin Demichelis’ half-clearance of Callum McManaman’s cross fell right to the feet of the midfielder.  Although Uwe Rosler’s side were still nearly caught out by City’s occasionally marvelous attack, with Scott Carson being forced into a smart stop to keep Ivan Ramis from deflecting Jesus Navas’ cross into the back of his own net, Demichelis let his side down once again to allow Wigan to take a surprise lead twenty-six minutes in.  The center-back, who already was having a nightmare, brought Marc-Antoine Fortune’s foray down the byline towards City’s goal to an end by clipping the Frenchman from behind, resulting in a stonewall penalty for Wigan.  Gomez coolly sent Costel Pantilimon the wrong way with his spot-kick, but, bizarrely, the home side had no response, unlike Wigan.

McManaman was the bright spot of a visiting side at the Etihad that looked in the mood for a second, but it was James Perch who delivered it for the Latics three minutes into the second half.  James McArthur drove down the left flank before cutting a low cross across the goal and despite Gael Clichy in a seemingly perfect position to clear at the far post, Perch nicked ahead of the defender to bundle it in across the goal-line from five-or-so yards.  But this time, City bolted into action, largely because of the Manuel Pellegrini’s decision to bring on David Silva, Edin Dzeko, and James Miler all at the same time right after the goal.

Dzeko came agonizingly close to pulling one back for City when he sent Clichy’s cross from the left onto the base of the near post with a looping back post header in the sixty-fourth minute, yet the miss was clear out of the Sky Blues’ minds as another one of Pellegrini’s substitutes did find the back of the net three minutes later.  A City corner found it’s way out to David Silva twenty-five yards out from goal, where the Spanish midfielder sliced a bouncing volley through the jumble of players in the box into the bottom right corner of the goal.

Pellegrini’s side seemed destined for an equalizer, putting heaps of pressure on Wigan as the clock ticked down.  Micah Richards came close with a lovely curled effort form the edge of the box in the sixty-ninth minute, before Dzeko somehow managed to sky a six yard tap-in over the crossbar with an open goal.  James Milner had his low curler parried wide by Carson in the eighty-second minute, while Dzeko was the next to go agonizingly close, leaping up at the far post to head Nasri’s cross from the right inches over.  In the end City even brought Pantilimon up for a last-gasp corner, but it just wasn’t their day, allowing Wigan to advance to Wembley in the FA Cup for the second consecutive time.  And send Arsenal fans, who now get to face a Championship side instead of City in the semifinals, into as much of a frenzy as Wigan fans are in.
Man of the Match: Edin Dzeko
Flop of the Match: Martin Demichelis (who else?)

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.