Wigan stun City to lift FA Cup

Emmerson Boyce and Gary Caldwell lift the FA Cup after their stunning triumph
Wigan manager Roberto Martinez
hailed an "incredible moment" as
his players lifted the FA Cup with
a 1-0 win over Manchester City
at Wembley. Substitute Ben Watson was the
hero as he crashed a header high
into the net from a corner in the
first minute of injury-time to seal
what was a thoroughly deserved
triumph for the underdogs. After an uncertain first five
minutes, they played the better
football - and Martinez said he
felt they should have taken a
lead into the break. "It's an incredible moment. At half-
time, we were all really down as
we thought we had played really
well in the first half," he told ITV.
"There was a real feeling of
maybe we had wasted our opportunity, but this group of
players keep on fighting. "I was thinking about extra-time
and how to use the extra man
advantage [after the sending off
of defender Pablo Zabaleta for a
second bookable offence]. "It was incredible seeing the goal
going in. When you are a football
club, you dream of playing at
Wembley, and today we saw the
underdogs play with incredible
bravery, incredible belief and they defied the odds again. That's
the FA Cup." Man of the match Callum
McManaman was a constant
thorn in City's side with his
fearless running down the right -
and his manager saluted him as "a
diamond". "Actions speak louder than words.
His display was outstanding," he
said. "I think he's a real diamond
of English football." He urged his players to take
their performance into their
Premier League survival fight -
they face games away to Arsenal
and at home to Aston Villa -
saying: "We are going to get an incredible fight, incredible desire,
to get the six points we've got
left. "But today is about today, today
is about the FA Cup, today is
about the victory and the trophy
that we've won for Wigan
Athletic. What an incredible story." Watson, who has only just
returned to action after five
months on the sidelines with a
broken leg, said the Wigan
players had been "fantastic from
the first minute to the 95th". "It's been a dream - coming on in
an FA Cup final and scoring the
winner," he said. "We've got two
massive games now to stay in the
league, and if we perform like
that we'll be alright. We crack on again tomorrow." Latics midfielder James McCarthy
said Martinez was a "tactical
genius" and told ESPN: "It's an
unbelievable achievement. I'm
speechless, to be honest. "It's a dream come true - it's
what you dream of as a kid. I
think the gaffer is a tactical
genius. It's down to his tactics
what we've done." City defender Vincent Kompany
said Wigan had merited their
victory and added: "There is no
need to look for excuses. Wigan
deserved to win it.
Congratulations to them. "We have to come back. We'll have
plenty of occasions to win it
again."