Soccer

Will Grigg savours career-high after inspiring Wigan to win over Manchester City

Wigan and Northern Ireland striker Will Grigg
Wigan and Northern Ireland striker Will Grigg

Will Grigg hailed the greatest moment of his career after shattering Manchester City's quadruple dream by firing Wigan into the FA Cup quarter-finals.

The Northern Ireland striker scored the only goal of a stormy fifth-round tie at the DW Stadium on Monday, netting after 79 minutes to stun the runaway Premier League leaders.

Grigg has been a regular scorer in the lower divisions in recent years and had already found the target against Bournemouth and West Ham in League One Latics' excellent cup run.

He also scored twice for MK Dons in a famous League Cup win over Manchester United in 2014 but his latest feat topped the lot.

The 26-year-old said: "I've scored against some Premier League teams and had some brilliant nights, a lot of promotions.

"But in terms of one single night, this is probably the best, against probably the best team in Europe at the moment. They've been flying. It's going to be difficult to top that and for me to get the goal was very special."

City went into the game buoyed by having a 16-point lead at the top of the Premier League and with a place in the Champions League quarter-finals all but secured. Their next assignment is the Carabao Cup final on Sunday.

Few gave Wigan much hope against a side for whom winning a clean sweep of four trophies was becoming increasingly realistic.

Yet Wigan clearly have a hold over City in the FA Cup, with their victory being their third against them in the competition in six years. The most famous of those was the 2013 final but Latics were then a top-flight side.

Grigg said: "We said get through the first 15 minutes. You have to be in the game to have a chance and I think you could sense around the pitch after 15-20 minutes that this was a good game, we were in it and if we could create chances we could cause them problems."

Wigan were aided by the sending-off of City's Fabian Delph before the break, a controversial moment that sparked heated exchanges between opposing managers Pep Guardiola and Paul Cook.

Those incidents were the main talking point of the game itself, while the contest as a whole was later overshadowed by a pitch invasion and crowd disorder.

Grigg focused on his moment of glory.

He said: "I sort of gambled and found myself in a foot race with Kyle Walker, which is not exactly ideal. He is probably the quickest player on the pitch but my first touch took him out of the game.

"Then I've always said if I get chance to score goals... I managed to find the bottom corner, which was an unbelievable feeling."

Wigan will now host another top-flight side in Southampton in the quarter-finals.

Grigg added: "We'll be going into that game with no fear whatsoever. We've just beaten the best side in Europe at the moment."