Shaun Maloney was delighted to see Wigan progress in the FA Cup at a ground they have previously struggled.
The Latics progressed 2-1 at Cambridge, who had beaten them at the Abbey Stadium twice in 2024, their winner coming from Jonny Smith a minute from the end of extra time.
“It’s an amazing result for us,” said Maloney afterwards. “This is a place we really find hard to come away with anything.
“It was a proper cup tie really. When we went one down the resilience of the players was really good.
“In the first half, I was quite happy. Normally when I’ve been here I’ve been down really early, so if anything in the first 10 or 15 minutes I wanted it to be less risky in certain areas.
“We had lots of chances to score more. We needed Sam Tickle again, he produced an amazing save from a header.
“The whole thing about today was get through. This is a really difficult place for us to play. I’m well chuffed that we’ve managed to win the game.”
Cambridge boss Garry Monk was bemused by his side’s exit given the number of chances the U’s had created.
“In the second half we were the better team, should have won it in the 90 minutes,” Monk said.
“It’s a poor goal to concede at the end but in extra time, with all of the changes and tired legs that were out there, I thought we were the ones really trying to win the game.
“You don’t see that ending coming, but we had more than enough opportunities to put the game out of sight. That’s what we should have done, because you do always leave yourself open to that.
“We’re kind of kicking ourself for not taking this opportunity, which we have done in recent games.”
