WIGAN: Pep Guardiola’s quest to win an unprecedented quadruple with Manchester City came to a stunning and controversial end when they were sensationally knocked out of the FA Cup on Monday by third-tier Wigan Athletic who beat the 10-man Premier League leaders 1-0 in a fifth round upset with a late goal by their talisman Will Grigg.

In an uncanny repeat of the 2013 FA Cup final, in which City had a player sent off before losing to a late Wigan winner, Guardiola’s side had Fabian Delph dismissed amid stormy scenes before Grigg secured one of the biggest shocks by slotting the ball home from the edge of the box in the 79th minute.

Northern Ireland international Grigg who capitalised on an error by City substitute Kyle Walker — who allowed a pass to run through to the Wigan man — and kept ahead of John Stones before finishing clinically from just inside the area.

Chants of ‘Will Grigg’s on Fire’ echoed around the DW Stadium but a famous night was marred by a post-match pitch invasion by Wigan supporters which saw a number of them confront City players, with striker Sergio Aguero required to defend himself.

Wigan will host another Premier League team Southampton in next month’s quarter-finals having now beaten three top-flight sides in their fairytale Cup run.

“It feels great, doesn’t it,” said their manager Paul Cook. “It’s such a severe test, they’re such a strong side... tonight we had to ride our luck with a couple of flashing crosses, but that’s what makes the FA Cup so special.

“Our lads deserve a lot of credit for the amount of work and the level of energy they put in. To beat a Man City team you have to do that.”

It was only City’s second defeat to English opposition since losing an FA Cup semi-final to Arsenal last April. Manager Pep Guardiola said his expensively-assembled side had done everything they could but paid the price for one mistake.

“That kind of game is like a final and always the teams can punish you,” he told the BBC. “OK. So accept the defeat. Congratulations to Wigan,” added the Spaniard, whose side enjoyed 82 percent of possession in the second half.

The pivotal sending-off arrived in first half injury-time when Delph made a rash challenge on Wigan’s Max Power, prompting referee Anthony Taylor to pull a yellow card out of his pocket before changing his mind and producing red.

That infuriated City players, who surrounded the referee, and the dispute spilled into the rival technical areas with Aguero having to be dragged away by Guardiola as he argued furiously with Wigan coaches.

The scene turned even uglier, with television cameras in the tunnel capturing footage of Guardiola and Wigan manager Paul Cook in a major verbal confrontation and being kept apart by staff.

Guardiola accepted the referee’s decision and played down its significance.

“We played good in the second half even with 10 so the influence in terms of the way we played wasn’t too much,” he said. “Of course, with 11 it’s easier. We conceded one shot on target in 90 minutes and we lost. Football is like this.

“Of course, we are sad and we want to go through because the FA Cup is a nice competition and you want to go to the quarter-finals. They score a goal, we were not able to.”

Despite Guardiola and Cook exchanging strong words on the touchline both managers said there wasn’t a problem.

“From our point of view we’re trying to get every edge in everything we can,” Cook said. “We certainly wish them well fighting on all fronts because they represent English football so well.”

Published in Dawn, February 21st, 2018