Wigan (2) 2-1 (0) Fulham
Wigan's Worthington Cup hero Nathan Ellington struck again to give the Second Division leaders a hat-trick of Premiership scalps at the JJB Stadium.
Ellington's first-half brace sunk depleted Fulham to send the Latics roaring into the quarter-finals for the first time in their history.
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Fulham striker Luis Boa Morte on target for Fulham
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And the hot-shot striker - who had hit three in Wigan's second round win over West Bromwich Albion - was only denied another treble by two excellent late saves by overworked visiting goalkeeper Maik Taylor.
Ellington, without a goal in his last nine games, struck first in the 20th minute against Jean Tigana's men, numbering 10 changes from the weekend's Barclaycard Premiership programme.
He raced onto a superb backheel from striker partner Neil Roberts and shrugged off Zat Knight before sliding the ball home to Taylor's right.
Eight minutes later he seized upon a defensive mix-up between Knight and Abdeslam Ouaddou, retrieving the ball twice in the box before looping his second over Taylor and into the net.
Lethargic Fulham hit back strongly in the second half and substitute Luis Boa Morte got onto the end of a long ball to set up a grandstand finish with his 85th minute strike.
Tigana had signalled his intention not to give up on the game at the break by introducing Boa Morte and the excellent Sean Davis, and they almost succeeded in handing the visitors a Cup lifeline.
But they could not find another way through Wigan's resolute defence and Ellington remained the most likely to add to his tally, seeing another late header from a Peter Kennedy cross flash inches wide nine minutes from time.
| Match Stats |
Wigan |
Fulham |
| Goal attempts |
11 |
9 |
| On Target |
6 |
3 |
| Offsides |
3 |
5 |
| Corners |
2 |
3 |
| Fouls |
10 |
15 |
| Yellows |
0 |
3 |
| Reds |
0 |
0 |
| source: www.sportinglife.com |
Tigana's men might have been expected to pay Wigan more respect after the Second Division leaders' back-to-back wins over Albion and Manchester City.
But Wigan took an early grip on the game with Kennedy crashing a long-range effort past Taylor's right-hand post and Nicky Eaden causing the out of sorts Knight problems with his deep crosses from the right.
Neil Roberts just failed to hook a loose ball over Taylor in the early stages and in first-half injury-time he raced onto Ellington's incisive pass but hammered his powerful shot straight into Taylor's arms.
Junichi Inamoto almost got Fulham back into the game in the 57th minute when he crossed deep from the right only for substitute Davis to loft his shot over the bar from 10 yards.
Wigan were sitting back on their lead too much and were almost punished again in the 61st minute when Inamoto seized on a loose ball and dribbled a goal-bound shot past Taylor.
But Stolcers appeared to be guilty of an horrendous blunder as he helped the ball over the line and was immediately flagged up for offside.
Matt Jackson denied Davis with a timely intervention before Boa Morte's goal set up the nail-biting finish for the home side.
Wigan Filan, Eaden, De Vos, Jackson, McMillan, Green (Mitchell 76), Dinning, Jarrett, Kennedy, Roberts (Flynn 90), Ellington.
Subs Not Used: Beasant, Teale, Breckin.
Goals: Ellington 20, 28.
Fulham Taylor, Leacock, Ouaddou, Knight (Davis 45), Wome, Inamoto, Clark, Collins, Djetou, Stolcers, Sava (Boa Morte 45).
Subs Not Used: Herrera, Goldbaek, Hudson.
Booked: Ouaddou(15,ub), Djetou(29,f), Inamoto(45,f).
Goals: Boa Morte 86.
Att: 7,615
Ref: M Halsey (Lancashire).