'It was near impossible' - The day 'little Wigan' did the unthinkable and beat Man City in the FA Cup final

The FA Cup final will hold very fond memories for every Manchester City fan. Whether you were there in 1969 when Summerbee pulled it back to Young, or in 2011 when Yaya Toure ended the club’s 35-year trophy drought, it’s always been a key date in the footballing calendar.

The 11th of May 2013, however, is a day no City fan will ever forget - for all the wrong reasons. It was the day Ben Watson engrained himself into FA Cup and Wigan Athletic folklore.

“It means everything,” Watson told the Manchester Evening News ahead of the FA’s 150th-anniversary celebrations of the FA Cup this weekend.

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“Winning it, scoring the goal. As a kid, it’s a competition you always want to play in, you’re brought up on the memories of FA Cup finals. So, to be able to play in one and score the winner in one, it goes to another level.”

Wigan’s hero – alongside the likes of Gianfranco Zola, Wes Morgan and John Moston – will be special guests at the showpiece final between Liverpool and Chelsea on Saturday, celebrating a selection of icons from the competition between 1870 and 2020.

Under Pep Guardiola, reaching the latter stages of the competition has become a regular occurrence, but the Catalan has only guided City to one FA Cup final in his nearly six seasons at the club.

Back in 2013, Roberto Mancini’s City had reached the final for the second time in three seasons by knocking out Watford, Leeds, Stoke and Barnsley, before winning a thriller against Chelsea in the semi-final.

That had all set up a final with Roberto Martinez’s Wigan, who were just three days away from their inevitable relegation to the Championship. It had been a tough season for the Latics, but a