As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts on the game. E-mail paul@thescore.ie, tweet @thescore_ie, post a message to our Facebook wall, or leave a comment below.
You may need to refresh the page for YouTube videos and other elements to display correctly.
Man City 1-2 Wigan
Hello, and welcome to our liveblog of the weekend’s final FA Cup tie.
The teams are in, and Ireland fans will be disappointed to hear that James McClean does not start.
WIGAN: Carson, Perch, Boyce, Ramis, Crainey, McCann, McArthur, McEachran, McManaman, Gomez, Fortune. Subs: Al Habsi, Rogne, Barnett, Holgersson, Espinoza, McClean, Maynard.
MAN CITY: Pantilimon, Richards, Demichelis, Lescott, Clichy, Navas, Toure (C), Garcia, Nasri, Negredo, Aguero. Subs: Hart, Kompany, Kolarov, Rodwell, Milner, Silva, Dzeko.
In case a reminder is needed, here’s what happened/what is happening in the other FA Cup ties.
Arsenal 4-1 Everton (Result)
Sheffield United 2-0 Charlton (Result)
Hull 3-0 Sunderland (Latest)
(Manchester City fans arrive at the ground before the FA Cup Sixth Round match.)
The FA Cup semi-final draw has been made, and it hasn’t been kind to City/Wigan:
Hull v Sheffield United
Arsenal v Man City or Wigan
So either Hull or Sheffield United will be in the final.
We’re underway…
Promising start for Wigan.
They’re on the attack and Jordi Gomez has just had a shot go over the bar.
Navas avoids the challenge of Chris McCann but his cross is well headed away by the Wigan defender.
City are belatedly finding their way into this game.
Roy is on form today…
Good forward run by Ireland’s Chris McCann, but his pass fails to find the Wigan striker.
City are on top now, but Wigan look threatening on the break.
Shouts for a penalty as Negredo goes down under a challenge from Ramis.
The ref ignores it and replays show he was correct, as the Spaniard made the most of the incident.
City have had 66% possession so far and have looked increasingly dominant.
That said, they’ve yet to even test the Wigan keeper so far.
Better from City, as Toure plays through Navas.
However, his cross deflects off Ramis and is collected by a grateful Carson.
The Spanish winger looks City’s best attacking outlet at the moment.
Nasri narrowly fails to pick out Negredo, who made an intelligent run behind the defence.
City look increasingly threatening.
PENALTY TO WIGAN!
GOAL FOR WIGAN!
Man City 0-1 Wigan: Fortune does really well to get past Demichelis, who trips up the attacker clumsily (27 mins).
Gomez makes no mistake with the ensuing penalty, sending Pantilimon the wrong way.
The upset is very much on.
Harsh but true!
Samir Nasri thumps the ground in frustration as he scuffs a cross.
City are looking panicky now.
Tempers are flaring now.
Callum McManaman is not happy, after one or two robust challenges go in on him.
The referee avoids booking anyone for now though.
The home crowd are getting increasingly frustrated.
They seem particular unhappy with the referee’s ostensible reluctance to book Wigan players despite their persistent fouling.
Irish player Chris McCann has come off worst after a 50:50 challenge with Micah Richards.
McCann has had an excellent game so far, so Wigan will hope he’s okay.
More nervy moments for City, as Wigan win a corner at the end of the first half…
HALF-TIME: MAN CITY 0-1 WIGAN
Fantastic performance so far from Wigan against an out-of-sorts City.
We’ll be back for the second half.
Half-time and Manuel Pellegrini might be regretting picking a somewhat weakened team.
Demichelis was caught badly for the goal, while the entire team have failed to convince for much of the half.
They have found Wigan very difficult to break down, while the Latics have posed a considerable threat on the break.
And so far, Uwe Rosler’s brave decision to play two up front is working extremely effectively, as the City defence are looking rattled at the best of times.
Chris McCann obviously hasn’t recovered and is replaced by Leon Barnett.
GOAL FOR WIGAN!
Wigan 2-0 Man City: A flimsy challenge from Demichelis allows James McArthur to get away from him and put in the cross to Perch, who slides the ball home (46 mins).
Incredible scenes, as Wigan go 2-0 up after 68 seconds of the second half.
Clearly not impressed with what he sees, Manuel Pellegrini is set to make a triple substitution.
Navas blasts a shot over, as City continue to probe.
He then comes off, as do Negredo and Toure, with Dzeko, Silva and Milner coming on in their place.
Milner makes an impact straight away. He robs McEachran and plays the ball across the box.
However, there is no City player on hand to capitalise.
City have noticeably upped the tempo in recent minutes, and are not out of this tie by any means.
James McClean replaces McManaman for Wigan.
He should add plenty of energy to a side that will inevitably tire, given their lack of possession in this game.
How has that stayed out? Clichy’s cross finds Dzeko, whose header hits the post, and the rebound narrowly eludes the onrushing Silva
Wigan are struggling to cope with this onrushing City attack at the moment.
Espinoza comes on for McEachran.
Wigan need to change something to stem the one-way traffic.
GOAL FOR MAN CITY!
Man City 1-2 Wigan: The ball falls to Nasri on the edge of the box, and he strikes the ball beautifully into the corner of the net (67 mins).
Wigan may be leading but they look in serious trouble right now.
Shocking play from Fortune, after a City defender unwittingly plays it to him.
He just needs to play McClean through on goal, but he decides instead to shoot and blasts the ball well over.
Aguero has hit a shot just wide, but he would have been offside anyway.
This second half has been absolutely chaotic, and there are still 15 minutes left to play.
Just over 10 minutes remain now, but still hard to see how Wigan can survive this City onslaught.
City look dangerous every time they attack, which is pretty regularly.
The ball is played into the box and Boyce does enough to put off Dzeko, who hits it over from close range.
If Wigan don’t concede in the next few minutes, it’ll be a near-miracle.
City are constantly finding gaps in the tired-looking Wigan’s defence.
Dzeko has just headed Nasri’s cross narrowly wide.
It’s shades of Ireland v Liechtenstein in 95 at this stage.
Dzeko is not happy, as McCarthur’s flailing arm connects with his face.
It looked innocuous enough on the replay.
Finally Wigan can relax, as Gomez wins a free-kick deep into the City half.
However, he plays it wastefully into the goalkeeper’s hands, giving City an opportunity to launch a quick counter-attack.
There will be five minutes of stoppage time.
Given City’s recent home record and the disparity in resources between the two sides, this will surely be one of the biggest FA Cup shocks ever.
Fortune beats the City offside trap and can win it, but his shot is straight at the keeper.
Wigan have a corner though…
City win a free kick about 40 yards out, after a sloppy pass forces Espinosa to commit a foul.
It’s a poor effort at a cross though, and can’t find the onrushing Javi Garcia.
Two minutes remain.
FULL-TIME: MAN CITY 1-2 WIGAN
Incredible stuff, City had a corner in the dying seconds that even Pantilimon went up for, but they couldn’t create that one final chance.
Boyce, in his post-match interview, comes up with perhaps the understatement of the season, by describing defending in the final few minutes as “hard”.
Right, that’s all from me, but we’ll have more reaction to follow.
Thanks for reading and commenting.
