The consolation for Manchester City, if any is possible, is that they managed to give Wigan a better game than they did in last season’s FA Cup final.

At Wembley last May, City limped across the finishing line of their season as they prepared to jettison their manager. They lost 1-0.

This time, two rounds earlier and at their own Etihad Stadium, they at least gave Wigan a run for their money. This time, though, just like last time, the upshot was the same — more embarrassment for the world’s richest football club and another trip to the place where dreams are made for their tiny neighbours from Lancashire.

Once again, Wigan deserved this.

Once again they prevailed on the back of a perfectly designed and executed gameplan from a brave, clever young manager.

Replace Roberto Martinez with Uwe Rosler and not much changes.

Arsenal will celebrate, of course. Drawn to face Wigan in a Wembley semi-final — and that still sounds very wrong, by the way — Arsene Wenger’s team are hot favourites for this year’s competition and their first trophy for nine years.

That, however, is a conversation for the future. A weekend that looked short of intrigue on paper all of a sudden belongs to Wigan and if you want to find the reasons then look no further than two incidents in yesterday’s game, separated by 35 minutes.

A minute after half-time, Wigan — leading by a goal — got to the by-line through James McArthur who crossed low to the far post. City defender Gael Clichy was favourite by a yard but, wanting for commitment, was caught on his heels and James Perch nipped in to score.

Much later on, with the deficit cut to one by Samir Nasri’s goal, City put together a similar move. This time, Edin Dzeko was favourite to score, standing as he was in front of defender Emmerson Boyce six yards from goal. Once again, though, Championship desire trumped that of the Premier League and somehow Boyce blocked.

There, in a nutshell, you had the game and City coach Manuel Pellegrini later offered an assessment that was appropriate to those two moments as much as it was to the game as a whole. ‘Maybe we thought this was going to be not so difficult and by the time we reacted it was too late,’ he said.

Late in the afternoon, Pellegrini’s team certainly put their soul into this game. Chances, so hard to come by for an hour or more, suddenly arrived like London buses.

City, though, couldn’t score and, having survived five minutes of frantic added time, Rosler emerged to admit this was probably the best day of his time as a manager.

‘Overall I am so delighted,’ he said. ‘I am so happy for the chairman and the players. And what a block from Emmerson Boyce. That summed us up. That was an illustration of what this team is about.’

Rosler, of course, made his name at City as a player. His two sons, Colin and Tony, are named after Maine Road icons Bell and Book. They look after their old favourites well at this club and few will begrudge him this moment of happiness.

Certainly for the first hour, Wigan were untroubled. Pellegrini left players out ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League game in Barcelona but there was no surprise or shame in that.

What will have shocked him is the way his team played. The first 25 minutes passed pleasantly but without incident, just as Wigan would have hoped. The sun shone and City probed but created very little in terms of momentum, pressure and opportunities.

Then, out of the blue, there was drama. Marc-Antoine Fortune eased past Martin Demichelis down the left — not that difficult — and was felled by the Argentine’s latest clumsy lunge. Jordi Gomez took the ensuing penalty, shaped to shoot one way, delivered the ball the other and Wigan were a goal up.

In the away end, they celebrated wildly. In some parts, the FA Cup still matters.

City tried to react but couldn’t. A brief exchange of pleasantries between Gomez, Micah Richards and Jesus Navas raised the temperature before half-time and Wigan re-emerged to strike the decisive blow.

he run to the line by McArthur and Perch was admirably alive and determined at the far post. Clichy, though, seemed to be wondering about his dinner options and goalkeeper Costel Pantilimon didn’t cover himself in glory either. Two nil to Wigan.

On came three City substitutes and, belatedly, the home team roused themselves.

Dzeko struck a post with a header and Sergio Aguero’s volley was saved before, with 22 minutes to go, Nasri’s shot from 18 yards found the corner. Team-mate Joleon Lescott was clearly offside as the ball passed beneath his raised leg but, as we know, that doesn’t seem to matter these days.

from that point on, City found something of their true selves. Substitute James Milner was influential and City could have scored through Richards, Aguero or Dzeko.

This, though, was Wigan’s day. They have Sheffield Wednesday at home in the Championship on Wednesday. Another big game.

City, meanwhile, head for Barcelona with their opportunities this season suddenly receding.

—Daily Mail