Ex-Pompey man: How we shocked English football

Liverpool and Wigan.

A precious memory for Gary Roberts to treasure, having played his part in the Latics’ notable scalp.

The former Pompey midfielder started last month’s FA Cup clash at the DW Stadium.

The outcome was a 1-0 victory for Paul Cook’s troops, dumping Pep Guardiola’s team out of their first competition this season.

A outstanding result in a campaign which has seen Manchester City drop just seven league points so far.

Wigan now host Southampton on Sunday in the quarter-finals.

Roberts told The News: ‘It was tough. In those games you need a bit of luck – and we got every bit of luck.

‘To be fair, since we’ve played them they have wiped the floor with everyone domestically and not conceded a goal.

‘They’ve beaten Arsenal twice, Chelsea and battered Stoke the other night. The result looks even better as the weeks have gone on!

‘We were happy just to be in the game, to test ourselves against the best, and with the sending off and how the match went, it was clear we had half a chance.

‘City didn’t play any kids, you can see the reaction of Pep and the staff, they wanted to win the game. They weren’t happy at the end.

‘You know what Cookie is like, we worked on them for days, he thought he was going to attack Manchester City.

‘That was our gameplan, but you can’t get out anyway because they keep the ball so well!

‘We watched loads of videos, teams such as Newcastle, where they conceded possession to the edge of their own box, but he wanted us to get after them and have a go.

‘He was saying “We can hurt them, we can hurt them” and we won, so fair play.

‘At this club, you get your videos and stats sent to you the day after. You look at the amount of running you’ve done and high-intensity sprinting or whatever.

‘We didn’t get many touches, but the work put in was a lot higher than usual!

‘Manchester City kept the ball so well – they are an unbelievable team.’

Another talking point was the spat between Cook and Guardiola following Fabian Delph’s sending off on the stroke of half-time.

Roberts added: ‘It was just too passionate fellas wanting their teams to win.

‘I think a little bit too much was made of it afterwards and took the shine off Wigan beating possibly the best team in Europe at the minute.

‘Just two football fellas having a debate over a tackle, a bit of handbags, nothing worth writing about.’