Notts County caused a major upset at the DW Stadium as two late
goals saw them defeat Wigan 2-0 and book a place in the FA Cup
fifth round.
Having survived a series of Wigan attempts on goal, League
Two promotion hopefuls County took a shock lead with 15 minutes to
go as Stephen Hunt headed home Ben Davies' corner.
Gary Caldwell then scored an own goal three minutes later to
leave the Premier League side stunned and the Magpies looking
forward to a trip to Fulham a week on Sunday.
It was an inspirational victory for cash-strapped County, the
lowest-ranked team left in the competition, and well deserved.
The visitors had chances from the early stages of Tuesday
night's match. They won a free-kick in the seventh minute when
Titus Bramble bundled Lee Hughes over, but Johnnie Jackson's
delivery was easily cleared by Caldwell.
Seconds later Jordi Gomez found some space midway into the
County half and tried a speculative effort from 30 yards which
Kasper Schmeichel had little trouble dealing with.
Gomez then sent Emmerson Boyce through on the right but the
defender shot wide, and Jason Scotland, playing as a lone striker,
looked as unconvincing as he had done on Saturday against Everton
after getting himself into a one-on-one situation with Schmeichel,
hitting a tame effort straight at the goalkeeper.
The Magpies began to assert themselves just before the half
hour and Mike Edwards sent a looping header over the bar from
Davies' corner before Hughes stung Vladimir Stojkovic's palms with
a fierce shot taken just outside the box.
Scott Sinclair responded at the other end, dribbling past
several defenders and sending a low drive across Schmeichel's goal,
but it was County on the attack again a minute later as Davies
brought another save out of Stojkovic.
The Serbian goalkeeper failed to deal with the resulting
corner and the ball fell to Neal Bishop, who was unlucky to see his
shot deflected wide.
Paul Scharner then hit a volley at Schmeichel, but once again
the effort lacked conviction.
Wigan came out for the second half with renewed purpose and
almost broke the deadlock less than a minute after the restart.
Scotland was again unable to convert from a good position,
although this time it took an impressive save to deny him,
Schmeichel clawing the striker's close-range header away for a
corner.
Five minutes later Gomez swung in a useful cross for Scharner
at the far post, but it was just behind the Austrian, who was
unable to direct his header properly.
Sinclair then wasted a glorious opportunity chasing a
through-ball and colliding with Schmeichel.
The winger got up quickly and had an empty net to shoot at
while Schmeichel remained on the ground, but his snap-shot was
off-target and County survived.
Scotland then saw his drive deflected wide and Gomez struck a
bobbling effort which Schmeichel turned behind for a corner.
With his team seemingly in the ascendancy, Roberto Martinez
brought on some fresh legs in the form of Charles N'Zogbia and
James McCarthy, but it did not improve the standard of the
finishing.
Scotland sent another effort wide after being fed by Boyce
and Scharner had the ball in the net, but only via a hole in the
side-netting.
Sinclair and Gomez were next to fire in at Schmeichel, but on
both occasions there was insufficient power and the goalkeeper
saved comfortably.
It seemed only a matter of time before Wigan scored, but with
20 minutes remaining Hughes curled a wonderful effort out of
nowhere which Stojkovic had to fully extend himself to push away.
Magpies caretaker boss Dave Kevan then drew boos from the
travelling support as he chose to take Hughes off, but minutes
later the County fans were on their feet as Hunt met Davies' corner
with a crashing header past Stojkovic.
Suddenly the tie had a completely different complexion, and
before Wigan knew what was happening, they had conceded again as
Davies' cross bounced in off Caldwell with 12 minutes remaining.
Gomez tried to hit back with a drive that went high and wide
but County almost made it 3-0 shortly afterwards as substitute Luke
Rodgers flashed a shot narrowly over.
