Will Grigg’s on fire. And Manchester City’s hopes of an unprecedented quadruple have gone up in flames. This was the most incredible FA Cup tie, with Pep Guardiola involved in a furious tunnel bust-up with Wigan manager Paul Cook at half-time.
It appeared that would overshadow everything, but Grigg changed that with his goal as the League One side knocked out City to cause one of the biggest Cup upsets ever.
It is hard to quantify the scale of it, given just how imperious City have been this season. They played the second half with 10 men, but this was still a seismic result. They sang the “Will Grigg’s on fire” song before kick-off but no one, surely, expected this.
Wigan now face Southampton in the quarter-finals, but what a story unfolded here. Guardiola opened himself up to the accusation of hypocrisy with his behaviour as he harangued Cook. The pair had to be separated by Peter Reid, who now works on Wigan’s coaching staff.
It followed the dismissal of Fabian Delph, for a tackle deemed dangerous, and given the City manager’s impassioned plea for referees to defend players from such apparent challenges, he will be criticised for his actions.
City have their Tunnel Club – for VIPs to watch the players – but this was about the Tunnel Cam with television cameras picking up Guardiola running towards Cook in the tunnel. Guardiola was unrestrained in his apoplectic reaction after he saw Cook and pursued him.
On half-time, as the additional minute was announced, the game exploded in controversy. Delph was sent off. The full-back had lunged, two-footed at Max Power to try to win the ball back. Initially, referee Anthony Taylor pulled out a yellow card. The Wigan players angrily crowded around him and the official changed his mind – was he given additional information in his ear? – and the red card was shown.
City were furious. Sergio Agüero confronted Cook and had to be pulled away by Guardiola. The two managers continued to argue as they walked down the tunnel after the half-time whistle was blown.
Just before the incident, Agüero should have provided City with the lead as he smartly turned Dan Burn, only for his powerful shot to be pushed away by Christian Walton. The tie had taken a huge contentious twist. Wigan had played extremely well. The build-up had been dominated by the deeds of 2013, Wigan’s greatest day, when they won the FA Cup and beat City in the final and they played on that. “Priceless”, as a cardboard placard held up by one young fan read as they again prepared to face the riches of City.
Wigan’s manager then was Roberto Martínez and he was here, as was Emmerson Boyce, who captained the club that day, and it was a reminder of how dreams can be realised in this competition.
In fact they beat City again the following season, when Wigan were a Championship side, to earn a place in the semi-finals, which meant that Guardiola arrived at the stadium knowing his two predecessors – Roberto Mancini and Manuel Pellegrini – had lost to Wigan in this competition.
His team selection spoke to City’s strength, with six changes but a dazzling array of talent – and more stationed on the bench. Wigan beat two Premier League sides – Bournemouth and West Ham United – to reach this round and were intent on taking this tie to their opponents.
They packed the midfield, they worked hard and they were determined to counter-attack. Their cause was helped by a shaky start from City full-back Danilo, who gifted two chances in the opening dozen minutes.
For the first, the Brazilian mis-controlled Gavin Massey’s low cross, allowing it through his legs, with the ball trickling to Gary Roberts, who should have done better than allow goalkeeper Claudio Bravo to smother. Then Danilo’s careless pass was intercepted by lone striker Grigg, who ran at the back-pedalling John Stones, before cutting the ball to his left and shooting into the side-netting.
Those chances fuelled belief. Massey was causing City problems with his pace and Wigan were hunting the ball, breaking quickly. Nick Powell had a shot charged down by Stones, who was partnered in central defence by Aymeric Laporte.
That young pairing looked vulnerable, although Wigan suffered a setback when they lost their most accomplished player as Powell departed injured – a cruel blow.
Credit : telegraph.co.uk