Cardiff City 1-2 Wigan Athletic
Wigan Athletic’s Ben Watson, left, scores their second goal from a free kick in the FA Cup fifth round at Cardiff City. Photograph: Geoff Caddick/AFP/Getty Images
There is something about Ben Watson, Wigan Athletic and the FA Cup. Having etched his name into the club’s history after scoring the winner against Manchester City in the final at Wembley nine months ago, Watson produced another memorable goal here when he struck a superb free-kick to take the holders into the quarter-finals and inflict more pain on Cardiff watson’s goal, shortly before the interval, completed another turbulent week on and off the field for Cardiff. Second from bottom in the Premier League and involved in an ugly public dispute with Malky Mackay, their former manager, Cardiff could have done with some good news to improve the mood in these parts. Wigan, however, had other ideas and Uwe Rösler’s side can now look forward to a place in the last ahead through Chris McCann’s early goal, Wigan were pegged back when Frazier Campbell registered his eighth of the season before Watson, with his third in four games in this competition, restored the visitors’ advantage. Other than an encouraging performance from Mats Daehli, the teenage Norwegian who was making his full debut, this was a dispiriting afternoon for wigan had made their intent clear from the outset and by the time the interval arrived, Cardiff were left in no doubt that they had a game on their hands. The visitors took the lead in the 18th minute with a goal that was reward for their bright start, although it made for painful viewing from a Cardiff point of view. Some of the defending was abysmal in the lead up to McCann slotting jordi Gómez was the architect of that goal, wriggling clear on the left flank, where he nicked the ball away from Magnus Eikrem far too easily before riding another half-hearted challenge, this time from Kevin Théophile-Catherine. Gómez then looked up and cut the ball back for the unmarked McCann who calmly steered a left-footed shot, from about 12 yards, beyond David Marshall. It was highly questionable whether Wilfried Zaha should have done a better job of picking up cardiff began to ease their way into the game and brought parity in the 27th minute through Campbell. Zaha, who at times seemed to be trying to break the record for the number of stepovers produced in one game, ran onto Daehli’s flick on and darted into the area only to be blocked by Iván Ramis. Wigan, though, were unable to clear the danger and, after a melee, the ball broke kindly to
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