FA Cup: Wigan vs Leeds United

I remember the FA Cup in the 80's..complete with the cheesy music on RTM 1 that accompanies the live matches played in the UK.I remember endless sleepless night for my dad who stayed up to watch all the excitement, to promptly fall asleep at half time and not get up tll 7am.I remember the commentator named Azizul/Azman/whatever with the curry-puffed hair going about the "Bola cantik..adakah ini akan masuk dalam pintu gol"

What I don't remember is me wanting to watch one of these boring matches that are always held at 3am thereabouts

Due to a strange twist of fate,I went to a FA Cup match on tuesday.For all you footy fans out there,you would know that Wigan from the premiership have been doing quite well this season in kicking ass. Leeds,who are comming up third on the Championships, are supposedly no match for them (if you need an explanation on the different leagues,please click on the comments from my first match)

When I initially heard that Wigan was playing Leeds, I was incidentally looking at a newsreport of how Wigan had beat one team 5-0. I thought Leeds would be lucky to get away with 7-0 on the losing end! However,they suprised the world by drawing with Wigan 1-1 during their first FA Cup match at Wigan's home ground.

It started out quite boring, with Wigan scoring one in the first 15 minutes.That just served to bore me...as I personally think Leeds is no match for this giant of a team.But lo and behold..they bloody scored!The whole stadium went beserk with joy for this one teeny puny goal.

Remember what I said about the qurikiness of the football fans? Well,I got the full song:

(sing to the tune of Que Sera Sera)

When I was just a little boy
I asked my mother,what shall I be
Shall I be Chelsea, shall I be Leeds?

Here's what she said to me

Wash your mouth out lad
And go get your father's gun
And go shoot the Chelsea scum,
Shoot the Chelsea Scum
We hate Chelsea!We hate Chelsea!We hate Chelsea!

Yes,that was the whole song. And yes, they sing that whilst playing Wigan.Well,they sing that whilst playing anyone actually.

Anyway, by half time, it was too cold to stand out there,so we went into the bar to grab a pint.Kickoff was announced before we could get out of the bar..but by the time we manage to get back to our seats,it was too late.Wigan has scored again! Supporting the underdog,we were dissapointed. But Leeds tend to play better in the second half anyway..so here's hoping.

Lo and Behold..at 75 minutes, Leeds scored against the mighty Wigan.Woohoo! It's startin to look like magic might just be in the air tonight.One more goal and we are home free and still in the FA Cup!

A couple of desparate long shot attempts by both teams lead the game to go on to overtime. Damn...anoher half an hour in the cold? No matter,for the first time in my life I'm beginning to love watching football. Worth every penny of the 21pounds that I paid for my ticket

30 minutes are given in extra time. Half way thorough at the 15 minutes marker,teams switch sides. Yes,just like a mini football match but 15 minutes each way.

First 15 minutes saw Wigan scored again. By then, I was losing hope and really dissapointed. You could see that the poor players are really exhausted and tired from all that running around.By the end of the 15 minutes, the score still stands at 3-0 and you could see people starting to leave.

And then lo and behold, Kelly scored one in the second half of the extra time! Woohoo,we are going to penalty,where the best man wins..that is if Wigan don't score again in the 5 minutes that is left on the clock.

It is quite rare that you have penalties in the game..it is not usual for teams to draw all the way into extra time.My favourite player in the team was the goalkeeper,and I was hoping that he would be the saviour for Leeds.

Alas, it was the strikers' fault. Two of the strikers bloody cock-eyed and their finishing goals hit the top goalposts instead of into the goal,no assistance from Wigan's goalkeeper who did not even had to do anything. Wigan polished off their goals with panache.

All in all, a very very good game. Leeds put up a brave fight against the mighty premiership team, and proved that they could play well too, if they wanted to. They have been known to lose to lousy teams when they are not in the mood to play,but this game really showed that they are premiership material.