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Peerless Wigan write their name in Wembley folklore with FA Cup win

How emotionally, incredibly appropriate was that given the leg-break that 53 years ago ended Dave Whelan's participation in an FA Cup final as a Blackburn Rovers player.

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For an FA Cup final threatened to be overshadowed by the retirement of one manager, in Sir Alex Ferguson, and the impending dismissal of another, in Roberto Mancini, the football and the fairytale won out. What a joyous story.

Wigan Athletic triumphed - with an injury-time goal scored by substitute Ben Watson who has only just returned to action following a broken leg.

How emotionally, incredibly appropriate was that given the leg-break that 53 years ago ended Dave Whelan's participation in an FA Cup final as a Blackburn Rovers player.

Whelan, of course, is now the Wigan owner. But if Watson was the hero then Callum McManaman was the star, producing an incredible performance that lit up an occasion that temporarily overwhelmed the talk of whether Mancini was about to sacked.

He did not do his chances of a reprieve any good with this performance. Instead the talk was of another Roberto - Wigan's impressive Roberto Martinez who will now have to turn his attention to avoiding relegation from the Premier League.

The chants for Mancini began close to kick-off and soon after the manager had returned to the dressing-room for final preparations, following a touchline chat with City's chairman, Khaldoon Al-Mubarak, who has always been a staunch supporter of the Italian but might now be fighting a losing battle.

Mancini sprung a surprise of his own - even if it was logical - by dropping his 'cup' goalkeeper Costel Pantilimon and restoring first-choice Joe Hart having constantly indicated throughout the run-up to the final that he would not be making that change.

Those chants for Mancini became even louder, the message to the City hierarchy could not have been clearer while the team made their intentions evident.

The pressure on Wigan was immediate with goalkeeper Joel Robles, having denied Ali Al Habsi the distinction of becoming the first Middle East player to feature in an FA Cup final, pushing away Yaya Toure's deliberately sliced shot after a free-kick was blocked.

Not that Wigan were cowed and, soon, the increasingly impressive McManaman was prominent, running on to Arouna Kone's clever cross-field pass to cut back inside.

Rather than shooting first-time he attempted to bend the ball around Hart - only to also beat the outside of the post. He should have scored.

But it signalled a switch in emphasis with Wigan now dominant, picking pockets of space and pulling at the City defence with Paul Scharner heading over and then Shaun Maloney claiming a penalty after Matija Nastasic blocked his volley which inadvertently flicked up against his arm.

Soon after and a Maloney snap-shot drifted wide while McManaman consistently had the beating of Gael Clichy only to then over-run the ball.

City were, after that initial burst, disjointed for a while, curiously unable to gain a firm foothold - although Sergio Aguero was unfortunate not to get a foot to David Silva's threaded pass, after a clever run across the Wigan defence, which had been bolstered by the return of Antolin Alcaraz from injury.

Suddenly, though, City clicked into gear with Samir Nasri picking out Silva's run. He cut the ball back and it seemed Carlos Tevez would score as he slid in - only for Robles to superbly deflect his first-time shot over the bar with his trailing boot as he spread himself.

The contest had opened up. Wigan pleaded for another penalty - after Roger Espinoza went down under Pablo Zabaleta's challenge - and then McManaman sprang clear, rounded Hart, only to be presented with a sea of defenders.

He cut back again - and then saw his shot blocked by Zabaleta when Maloney and Kone were well-placed.

For City, Silva flashed a close-range header across goal. But Martinez had the upper head. His tactics, with James McArthur, for example, at wing-back, were working and his side were equally as threatening as City for whom Gareth Barry tried to arc an effort around Robles only to shoot straight at the goalkeeper.

More was soon demanded of Robles when he had to react alertly to fist away Nasri's powerful shot from the edge of the penalty area.

Interestingly Mancini and his assistant Brian Kidd returned early for the second half. Wigan again started brightly but the first solid opportunity fell to City with Tevez stealing possession off Kone, running to the byline and pulling the ball back towards Aguero with Emmerson Boyce just intervening to turn the ball narrowly wide as the striker shaped to shoot.

Silva then clipped a ball over the top of the Wigan defence - only for Tevez to miscue his scissor-kick.

Mancini had seen enough, bringing off Nasri, who appeared unimpressed, while Scharner was fortunate to escape punishment after cleverly - cynically - falling into Aguero as he threatened to run clear onto another Silva pass. Silva then narrowly failed to reach Zabaleta's low cross.

For all of Wigan's impressive play they had not, yet, tested Hart although only a superb block by Vincent Kompany prevented McManaman from pulling the trigger as he once again showed his ability to beat a man - slaloming past two City defenders before he was stopped by the captain.

Mancini made another change and, this time, it was surprising - bringing off Tevez who had been one of his more threatening players.

His replacement, however, Jack Rodwell, soon went close as he reached a free-kick only to direct his header straight at Robles. Still no breakthrough.

Wigan had McManaman who was spreading panic every time he gained possession - and everyone knew it. Clichy looked shell-shocked. Nastasic was beaten - and simply body-checked him to concede another free-kick. From the angle Maloney shaped to cross to the far post only for the ball to dip and bounce off the top of the crossbar.

McManaman again gained possession and ran at Zabaleta who scythed him down.

A second yellow, then a red and City were down to 10-men. Just as injury-time was being called McManaman won a corner. Maloney took it and there was Watson, glancing in a header to crush City and win that first-ever trophy for Wigan.

 

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