Given Fulham’s track record of tripping themselves up when they reach the FA Cup fourth round, they would have been forgiven for thinking this trip to Wigan was ready to unravel when Jonny Smith picked out the top corner five minutes into the second half to make it 1-1.
It was Wigan’s first shot on target, only their second attempt all game to that point, and yet it flew straight off the boot of Smith and past Steven Benda in the Fulham goal. Wigan had lift off.
Prior to kick-off it was this fourth round hoodoo that was the talk of those who made the trip up from London.
The Cottagers had only made it past the fourth round in the tournament on one occasion over the last seven campaigns. There are defeats to Southampton, Oldham Athletic, Man City, Burnley, Man City again and Newcastle United in that barren run.
Marco Silva knows his history and yet still made the decision to make 10 changes to the side that beat Newcastle United last time out. Timothy Castagne was the only survivor.
They started so strong, quickly turning this into a training game where they managed to get as high as having 91 per cent of the ball.
With no out ball ever seemingly available, Wigan wilted early and Fulham broke the deadlock when Ryan Sessegnon’s left wing cross was pinpoint to meet the diving head of Rodrigo Muniz 23 minutes in.
It should have been 2-0 minutes later when Andreas Pereira’s clipped ball over the top set Martial Godo, who enjoyed a loan spell here in 2023-24, through on goal, only for him to overcomplicate the finish.
That lack of killer instinct allowed Wigan to retreat to the dressing room at half-time with a puncher’s chance.
And when Smith curled in that stunning equaliser for his third FA Cup goal of the season, the magic of this competition threatened to turn this extremely one-sided contest into a real battle.
But Fulham’s ‘Samba Boys’ of Pereira and Muniz put paid to any tension or drama when the former’s clever ball over the top allowed Muniz to slot past the onrushing Sam Tickle.
Wigan rallied, and they deserve credit for that. They even thought they’d equalised in stoppage time when Ronan Darcy tapped into an empty net after Benda spilled a long-range shot. He was the most relieved man in the stadium when the goal was chalked off for offside.
