Last year’s FA Cup winners will continue their charge to this year’s final, with Championship side Wigan beating Premier League side Cardiff to advance to the quarterfinals.
The visitors took a surprise lead early in the first half, when Jordi Gómez got away from the Cardiff defense to slide the ball across the face of goal. Chris McCann got on the end of it, catching the ball on the volley and sidefooting past David Marshall into the back of the net. It seemed the cup-holders were on course to make it through to the next round, particularly when they closed rank and defended.
But Wigan’s lead lasted less than ten minutes. It looked as though the Latics defense would manage to hold out, shutting down an attempt from Wilfried Zaha. But they couldn’t clear their lines, allowing Fraizer Campbell to pounce. Cardiff’s cup-hero threaded his shot through the Wigan bodies, past Ali Al-Habsi and into the back of the net.
Wigan weren’t prepared to let go of the Cup just yet, however. Another cup-hero stepped up in the form of Ben Watson, latching on to a ball from Marc-Antoine Fortune and blasting it into the back of the net.
As if that wasn’t enough action in the first half, the Bluebirds very nearly tied it up once more. Defender Cala, in his first appearance for Cardiff, managed to hit the post just before the break. Al-Habsi rescued the danger and Wigan went into the second half leading 2-1.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the second half failed to live up to the excitement of the first. Wigan held fast while Cardiff’s urgency increased, the hosts doing whatever they could to try and get into a good scoring position. Perhaps the biggest bit of excitement was when Al-Habsi had to stop a shot from Zaha in the 80th minute, but the offside flag was up anyway. In injury time, Zaha almost got ahold of a flick from Cala, but again Al-Habsi was there to save.
Cardiff: Marshall, Theophile-Catherine, Caulker, Cala, Taylor, Medel (Cowie 46), Eikrem (Kim 78), Daehli, Berget (Noone 61), Zaha, Campbell
Goals: Campbell 27'
Wigan: Al-Habsi, Perch, Boyce, Ramis, Beausejour, Watson (McEachran 58), McManaman (McClean 67), McCann, Espinoza, Gomez (Crainey 78), Fortune
Goals: McCann 18', Watson 40'
