After Thoughts on: Booking a Wembley Ticket

It has been a few years since Wigan's last trip to Wembley (???), and seven since our last cup final. But we are closing in on the latter part slowly. The toughest hurdle so far in our FA Cup campaign this season was leaped, and we lept so high, you wonder why we are in the bottom three in the league.

The performance against Everton wasn't just good it was amazing. It was the vocal point of what we can do as a team. Working hard to defend as one closing players down, pressing them high, then when we having the ball keeping it and looking to break on the opposition when they open a gap.

Last season we managed to use it to its fullest extend, and now either teams seem to have found us out; or our players just don't know how to do it again. Yet neither of those things stand to reason, if we can play against teams like we did against Everton on Saturday.

James McCarthy and Jordi Gomez as the middle two where inspiring. They kept Everton chasing shadows for much of the first half, and were able to supply the ball further up field to Callum McManaman and Shaun Maloney who for most of the game had the Everton defence turned, as Arouna Kone snuck in the back door.

Although Kone didn't score at the weekend he was by far one of our best players. He closed their defense when they didn't have the ball, and he made sure that when we did he was open for someone to lay it off to him. As a lone striker Arouna has it boxed off, he has shown recently what a great buy he was.

Yet the good attacking work was backed up by a solid defense, and one man in particular. In my eyes we have missed him all season, last year he was the rock that our push for survival was built around. After his performance at the weekend, he could now help push us on again, headers galore, tackle a plenty and interseptions to make you cry; we have missed him so badly.

His presence in the defense would give us an extra back bone and a constant figure who can keep control of the back three. Going into the league we could now have a back three of Antolin Alcaraz, Gary Caldwell and Paul Scharner; that would be enough to keep most attacks out.

The positivty coming from this game has to now flow into the Premier League. Not only are we now heading to Wembley we now have to be looking for that final push for survival in our last ten games.