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Carlos Tevez leaves Wigan with a mountain to climb

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Carlos Tevez delivered a crushing blow to Wigan's survival hopes with an 84th minute winner for Manchester City after Roberto Martinez's team had dominated at the Etihad Stadium.

Needing a victory to move out of the bottom three, Wigan created a series of chances against Roberto Mancini's lethargic champions.

But poor finishing and the reflexes of City goalkeeper Joe Hart denied Wigan the goal they deserved, while Tevez displayed the ruthless streak lacking in the visitors' make-up to secure the victory that reduced Manchester United's lead at the top to 13 points.

Although both teams will meet again to contest the FA Cup final on May 11, Wigan's situation at the wrong end of the Premier League table ensured that this game was no walk-through for next month's Wembley showpiece.

As Wigan manager Roberto Martinez insisted following Saturday's semi-final victory over Millwall, a trip to Wembley for the Cup final will be a "waste of time" if it accompaniesrelegation to the Championship.

And despite a recent revival that had moved Wigan to within three points of safety prior to this fixture - one of their two games in hand - their position remained alarming due to the necessity to win at least one of those spare fixtures.

This time last season, Wigan were in the midst of a form surge that saw them avoid relegation with seven victories from their last nine league games. Having pulled off a miracle last season, Wigan are now faced with an expectation that they will stroll to safety this time, simply because they did it last time.

They still have work to do, however, and that was evident from their first-half performance at the Etihad, where they enjoyed the lion's share of the chances.

Indeed, Wigan should have gone in at half-time at least one goal ahead having breached the City back four on two occasions.

Ivorian forward Arouna Kone wasted the first opportunity when, after being picked out unmarked inside the six-yard box by Shaun Maloney, he appeared to kick his own leg rather than the ball when a clean strike would have left Joe Hart helpless.

The City goalkeeper proved his worth sixty seconds later, though, producing a stunning save to deny Franco di Santo the opening goal.

Maloney's back-heel flick had released the pounds 4m forward, but after waltzing past Joleon Lescott and Vincent Kompany, the Argentine saw his close-range shot well-saved by Hart, who had been restored to the starting line-up after being rested in favour of Costel Pantilimon against Chelsea on Sunday.

Judging by their half-hearted performance, City had seemingly given up on their faint hopes of retaining the title, but Wigans' desire was obvious.

And they continued to push City back in the second-half as they went in search of the victory which would prove so crucial to their survival hopes.

But for all of their verve and energy, Wigan just could not break the deadlock, despite going close twice in the opening stages of the second-half.

Maloney saw a curling strike cleared off the line by Lescott before City captain Kompany produced a last-ditch challenge on Kone as the forward was ready to convert Di Santo's cross from three yards.

Wigan appeared to benefit from City switching to three at the back and substitute Callum McManaman used his pace and trickery to test the home side further when he cut in before seeing his shot saved by Hart.

It was not until the 76th minute, when Edin Dzeko was denied by goalkeeper Joel Robles, that City even threatened to score.

But as the terrace chant goes, City fight to the end, and they displayed their resilience once again when Tevez struck six minutes from time.

It was a killer blow for Wigan, on the night and potentially for their hopes of staying up.

 

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