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Ninety minutes up.
Callum McManaman, having just had a penalty shout shunned by the referee, had won a corner.
Three added minutes.
Shaun Maloney took his customary run-up to the ball and hit it. Hit it with such beauty and it curled slightly so that it simply needed to hit someone…anyone and it would surely hit the back of the Manchester City net.
That someone was Ben Watson. A ginger haired midfielder who had had limited playing time throughout the season. It would be Watson’s third appearance since returning from a broken leg. If anyone in the whole of the Wigan Athletic squad should have scored on the fateful day it was not Ben Watson!
As Maloney’s corner took its slight curl, Watson gambled. He ran from his position on the penalty spot to the near post and directed a glancing header towards goal. Now this is the moment when time slowed down which allowed every Wiganer inside of Wembley Stadium to wait in anticipation for the inevitable goal to come.
There was a delay of about a second between the ball hitting the back of the net and the absolute pandemonium that ensued from the Wigan fans (and even every neutral in the world that was watching).
As the boys in black (as it was on the 11th of May 2013) ran towards the corner flag to celebrate with the goal-scorer, the 21,000 Latics’ fans screamed until their voices could scream no more and jumped around no end. In fact hundreds, if not thousands, of grown men started to cry whilst trying to process what had just happened.
Wigan Athletic would win the FA Cup!
Strangers started to hug strangers whilst those men continued to cry even as play resumed. It truly was a coming together of people. No-one was upset and there was seemingly no hate in the world at this point in time; only happiness.
For many supporters of the famous Wigan Latics the rest of the night will be a mashed up montage of FA Cup lifting and champagne squirting with a little bit of crying and the odd exchange of a handshake with a passer-by.
Wigan Athletic had won the FA Cup!
Unbelievable.