Burn lights touch paper for big upset
FA CUP FOURTH ROUND DRAW v
Liverpool WBA Peterborough Leicester Huddersfield Birmingham Notts County Swansea Yeovil Manchester United Sheffield Wednesday Reading Cardiff Manchester City MK Dons Coventry Millwall Rochdale Southampton Watford Middlesbrough Brighton Wigan West Ham Hull Nottingham Forest Newport Tottenham Chelsea Newcastle Sheffield United Preston North End
v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v
WIGAN comfortably booked a home tie with West Ham with two goals in three second half minutes, heaping on the embarrassment for Eddie Howe’s Premier League side.
A year after the Bournemouth manager made wholesale changes and lost in the third round 3-0 at League One Millwall, he managed to repeat the feat.
Having made eight alterations from the side that beat Arsenal at the weekend, Howe saw his side concede early to Wigan’s Egyptian international Samy Morsy.
And two goals in three second half minutes ensured that Howe’s approach towards the famous old competition once again came under scrutiny.
Howe said: “I think the changes last year affected the result, this year no, I don’t think I can regret any of those players who played today. The majority have done well for me over a long time. The reality is, we didn’t perform.
“The players I picked are regular Premier League players who have done well for the club over a long period.
“I didn’t take any major risks with the team selection and Wigan made changes as well. We can’t use that as an excuse.”
Bournemouth faced an uphill task from the ninth minute when Morsy slotted in after Will Grigg’s shot was deflected out by keeper Artur Boruc.
The replay was still finally balanced when 6ft 7in sub Dan Burn doubled the League One side’s lead after 73 minutes, just two minutes after coming on. The defender scored with an untidy finish
WIGAN BOURNEMOUTH
that flew in off the underside of the bar after Noel Hunt had helped on Max Power’s right-wing cross.
And any hope of Bournemouth avoiding an embarrassing heavy reverse disappeared entirely when Callum Elder headed in another Power cross.
Bournemouth carved out a string of halfchances, with Benik Afobe guilty of poor finishing, but the only serious save from Jamie Jones came when he blocked Ryan Fraser’s effort early after the restart.
Wigan had beaten Howe’s club in a third round replay on their way to winning the FA Cup in 2013 – but then the roles were reversed with the Latics in the top flight and the Cherries in League One.
Wigan boss Paul Cook laughed and said: “I love that one. I think it’s been mentioned but the gulf in class now, if West Ham turn up with all their first-team players, we’re not stupid. West Ham will be a diversion from the league and a good diversion but it won’t detract from our main objective, promotion.
“It was a surprise, when you look at the quality Bournemouth have, you’d expect them to win.” HOWE: Embarrassed
WIGAN (4-4-2): Booked: Goals: BOURNEMOUTH (4-2-3-1):