MAJA MAGIC HAS O’NEILL DREAMING
Wigan’s 20-game run over
MICHAEL O’Neill is dreaming of Cup glory after Stoke ended Wigan’s 20-match unbeaten run to reach the fifth round.
The 2011-12 runners-up opened the scoring inside 14 minutes when debutant Josh Maja – a midweek loan signing from Bordeaux – converted from close range after a slip by Latics defender Jason Kerr.
Backed by over 4,000 travelling fans, the visitors gradually grew into the fixture and threatened to find an equaliser through Max Power, as they looked to preserve their 20-match unbeaten run.
However, substitute Jacob Brown dented their hopes of a cup upset when he doubled the Potters’ advantage less than two minutes after entering the fray. Gwion Edwards was shown a second yellow late on for Wigan as Stoke progressed to the fifth round for the first time since 2015.
Stoke manager O’Neill said: “I want to stay in the competition as long as we can. I’m not really concerned about our schedule. I don’t know how many rounds we are away from the final, but we’d have to play 22 games in the rest of the season and we’re capable of doing that. The draw’s been kind to us with two home draws and hopefully it’ll be kind again.
“Josh Maja took the goal insanely well. He’s not played a lot of football, so he’ll benefit from that 70 minutes that he had. That’s what he needs and for him to show what he did today was a real positive.”
Stoke started promisingly and nearly opened the scoring inside seven minutes, but Tyrese Campbell was unable to punish Jamie Jones’ poor clearance. The home side’s early dominance was soon rewarded when debutant Maja secured a dream start to his Stoke career.
After a slip from Latics’ defender Jason Kerr, the Nigeria international had all the time in the world to compose himself and convert past Jones into the far corner.
Josh Magennis spurned a glorious chance to equalise shortly before the interval. After good work by Gwion Edwards, the Northern Ireland striker was slotted through on goal, but skewed his strike harmlessly wide.
Wigan threatened again-shortly after the hour mark Tom Bayliss’ powerful freekick clipped the bar.
Yet it was the Potters who struck next with Brown – only on the field for less than two minutes – finished accurately into the far corner to land the Latics a knockout blow.
However, the visitors came close when Steven Humphrys poked effort was blocked on the line. Substitute Steven Fletcher struck the bar with a powerful strike from close range while Brown was denied a second by heroics from keeper Jones.
Wigan boss Leam Richardson said: “It was won and lost in both boxes. You can see the calibre of players that Stoke have and they put every forward-thinking player on the pitch. When it was eleven v eleven, I thought we were competitive.
“When a run finishes, you’ve got to start another one and it’s important that we start another from Tuesday and keep our league run going.”