Wigan Athletic 3 Bournemouth 0: Latics cause FA Cup upset with stunning rout to reach fourth round

As acts of FA Cup giant killing go this was an exemplary demonstration by Wigan, who produced a resounding 3-0 victory over Bournemouth on a humiliating evening for the Premier League club.

While Wigan surrendered a two-goal advantage on the South Coast to necessitate this replay, once Sam Morsy had opened the scoring in the ninth minute, the 2013 winners, who now occupy less-celebrated territory at the summit of League One, rarely looked like relinquishing their advantage.

Once they had survived a concerted spell of Bournemouth pressure in the second period, when Benik Afobe and Lys Mousset squandered a series of excellent opportunities to equalise, they delivered the perfect riposte. Killing off the game in the space of three minutes, courtesy of goals from substitute Dan Burn and on-loan Leicester City defender Callum Elder.

It all amounted to a “bitterly disappointing” trip to the North West for Eddie Howe, who rejected the suggestion that this disaster may have been averted had he not made eight changes to the team that defeated Arsenal on Sunday.

“The players I picked are regular Premier League players who've done well for the club over a long period of time,” Howe said.

“I didn’t take any major risks with the team selection. I can’t look at that team and regret playing any of those players. Wigan made changes as well so we can't use that as an excuse. We were very wasteful in possession which was unlike us.

“Second half we were a lot better, we created a number of chances and really at 1-0 with the amount of opportunities we had we should have found a way back into the game, but we didn't and got punished.”

Wigan’s resilience and intensity ensured that they were worthy victors of this contest and they will now face further top-flight opposition, when West Ham United arrive in Lancashire for the fourth round, a week on Saturday.

Paul Cook’s team last conceded a league goal almost two months ago and this outcome maintained an unbeaten run that stretches 12 games.

“Our lads showed a great appetite to take the game to Bournemouth and create the chances to win the game,” he said.

“We scored at the correct time. We got the second goal at the correct time and the third goal killed Bournemouth. It’s always a surprise. When you look at the quality Bournemouth have got you’d probably expect them to win the game.”

Team details

Wigan Athletic (4-2-3-1) Jones; Perkins, Bruce, Dunkley, Elder; Morsy, Power; Massey, Roberts (Jacobs 86), Colclough (Burn 71); Grigg (Hunt 52). 
Subs Walton, Byrne, Powell, James. 
Booked Perkins, Colclough, Grigg.

AFC Bournemouth (3-4-3) Boruc; Cook, Daniels, Simpson; Pugh, Arter, Surman (Taylor 87), Fraser (Hyndman 78); Mousset, Mahoney (Ibe 64), Afobe. 
Subs Federici, Butcher, Hobson, Ndjoli. 
Booked Arter.

Referee Stuart Attwell (Warwickshire)