And let’s be honest, they probably wanted it more, too. I’m all for the magic of the FA Cup and that, but it’s absolutely humiliating when it goes against your team. On this occasion it wasn’t quite as bad as losing to Canvey Island, who (whisper it quietly) I believe were a non-league side, but it sure feels horrible.

It wouldn’t have been too bad had we managed to scrape through and got beaten by Fulham in the Fifth Round, at least there wouldn’t have been the shame of everyone coming up to you saying “haha, you’re that incompetent bunch that lost to the fifth division team aren’t you?”

Still, it was far less embarrassing than losing 9-1 to Tottenham: on that occasion we actually had a full strength team out and somehow contrived to concede that avalanche of goals, PES style, in the second half. Today’s result was more disappointing than anything.

You know how Wigan’s season has gone: it often takes a goal or spark of inspiration to get the lads playing to a decent standard. It’s a simple fact that was missing this evening – I daresay an early goal would have probably led to a 3-1 or 4-1 Wigan win as the confidence flowed, with probably even Jason Scotland getting on the scoresheet. It easily could have been, were it not for the lack of finishing instinct – oh so very close on so many occasions, but not enough experience or even luck to get the ball in the back of the net.

In fairness to County, they did and we didn’t. Simple as that. For all their shots on target and making Kasper Schmeichel work for his money on numerous occasions, Latics just could not get that crucial goal. Remind you of any other games this season? Sad to say it’s becoming all to regular.

Wigan seemed to be controlling the game, even dominating it, for the most part. The turning point came on 75 minutes when somehow the ball scraped over Stojkovic’s goal line, and like so many other matches this campaign, that truly was that. Wigan were completely shot and never really looked like scoring, a world apart from twenty minutes earlier when they laid siege to the County goalmouth, shots raining in like coins at Craig Bellamy (did anyone see that last weekend?).

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Antonio Amaya: have we seen the last of him?

Somehow, Latics are still in this season’s FA Cup, despite the best efforts of one of the most pedestrian first half Latics sides to grace the pitch this season, certainly in 2010.

I dunno about Notts County 2-2 Wigan Athletic, you might say Tim Gudgeon should have read Antonio Amaya 2-2 Wigan, because from a Latics point of view his, shall we say, slightly iffy performance all but gifted County with two goals. Well, maybe I do the Nottinghamshire side a disservice: those goals still needed sticking away, and the second in particular — a cracking free kick even David Beckham would have been proud of from Ben Davies — left Stojkovic with no chance.

In fact, Notts County punched well above their weight today, albeit against a first-half Latics side that weren’t even at the races. But a below average turn out from the Spanish centre back left fans wondering whether they would ever see him in a Wigan shirt again. Sure, there was undeniably a collective failure to repel the spirited efforts of a club in the midsts of financial insecurity — which this tie, of course, will go some way to easing — but a man with an ulterior motive would single out Amaya for toilet duties first thing on Monday morning.

Or, at least another lengthy spell in the reserves. Not that I would make the guy a scapegoat for any of Latics’ failings, with Gohouri and Caldwell waiting in the wings, you get the feeling old Antonio’s days as a first team player could well be numbered, at least for this season.

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