Last Tuesday, the DW Stadium resembled a cauldron of despondency. Wigan players and fans alike had their energy zapped out of them and left the stadium in sheer disbelief, knowing that it could be the night survival finally slipped from our grasp. This was a fairly atypical event to precede a Cup Final, but the Latics put league troubles behind them to rise from the ashes on Saturday at Wembley.

The common perception of Wigan Athletic is a club that has grown rapidly over the last decade but has now fully expended all of its modest resources and cannot grow any further. Many consider Latics to be unsustainably punching above their weight, with it only being a matter of time before the luck runs out and Wigan fall back from whence they came. Roberto Martinez however has other ideas, and the next few weeks will determine whether his dream will have potential, or will be nothing more than an ambitious concept of unrealistic idealism.

BBC North West Tonight will be broadcasting live from Berkley Square ahead of the FA Cup Final on Saturday.

As history has taught us, when we reach April and survival is still to be earned, you cannot pick and choose fixtures that you think you can win and write off the others. At this stage, every game should be treated as a must win scenario.

The FA Cup run has been a fantastic journey and a great bonus for the club, but it’s a possibility it could act as a disguise -or even an excuse- for league failure. If Wigan go down, the season will be regarded a failure irrespective of any Cup exploits or European qualification.

Wigan Athletic’s return to Wembley was an inevitably massive day for the club, even if we failed to sell out our allocation. Although our victory has been overshadowed by a mindless act of hooliganism, let’s not allow anyone to forget the fact that this was our day, which cannot be taken away by a group of thugs, and what a day it was.

I don’t usually get nervous before Wigan matches, but leading up to 4:10 pm on Sunday, I was feeling quite apprehensive about the ninety minutes that lay ahead. Judging by the performance of the players, I suspect they were subject to a lot of nervous tension too.

The eccentric chronicles of Paolo Di Canio may have enhanced the Premier League greatly during his playing career; with his referee push, scissor kick wonder goal and display of great sportsmanship at Goodison Park among his finest moments. However, his success as a top flight manager whilst maintaining his entertaining nature may be more difficult.

Two weeks ago, in response to the altercation between Emmerson Boyce and James McArthur, I called for Wigan to focus their anger on the opposition. I didn’t mean quite as literally as Callum McManaman’s infamous tackle on Sunday, but it was closer to the mark.

The last time Wigan Athletic walked out at Wembley was on 28^th May 2000 for a Division Two Play Off Final against Gillingham. It’s changed a lot since then, with a fairly expensive and time-consuming makeover converting the iconic twin towers into a giant arch. The new conception of Wembley Stadium though will welcome the Latics once again after a thirteen year wait, and it’s a very different Wigan team now.

It would appear that Wigan Athletic are only capable of winning 3-0 away from home at the moment, which is fine by me. Saturday’s win at the Madjeski to me is the rallying cry from the Latics for yet another survival run in. So belt up guys, you know the drill.

In what can only be described as an unfortunate case of circumstance, the Huddersfield Town vs Wigan Athletic match occurred on the same weekend as the Huddersfield Giants vs Wigan Warriors clash. Whilst the constant reminders of this only served to prove that we will never manage to shake the ‘rugby town’ tag, the respective results of the games suggest that Wigan does also have a football team to be proud of.