Jones excited by Wigan´s FA Cup run

Wigan midfielder David Jones has spoken of his affection for the FA Cup ahead of his side’s fifth-round meeting with Huddersfield.

Wigan midfielder David Jones has spoken of his affection for the FA Cup ahead of his side’s fifth-round meeting with Huddersfield.

Wigan narrowly beat Blue Square Premier outfit Macclesfield in the last round, earning a 1-0 win thanks to a Jordi Gomez penalty.

And Jones believes that such fixtures highlight the ‘unpredictably’ of the world’s oldest cup competition, insisting that is why it so loved by fans.

“The FA Cup is a very exciting competition and we’ve got a great opportunity to go far in it,” he told the club’s official website.

“It’s going to be a hard tie, of course, but we feel that we can really make an impact in this competition. This competition is something I love being involved in because of the history and tradition and I’ve grown up with it being a major competition.

“What we witnessed against Macclesfield was exactly what the FA Cup is all about because it is a one off event for us to play against a Blue Square Premier side and it made for an exciting game for us as players and of course our fans who travelled.

“It was a very difficult place to go and it was a great result to prevent any upset, the whole game showed how special the FA Cup is and we’ll be looking to get as far as we can in it.

“The unpredictability of the FA Cup is what makes it so intriguing because we’ve faced a League One side and a non-league team, now we’ve got a Championship team and if we get through who knows what team we’re going to face.”

Sunday’s fixture marks Roberto Martinez’s side’s third consecutive away game in the FA Cup, but Jones is looking forward to making the trip to Yorkshire.

“Playing away from home in the cup does really add to the desire to win because our fans are then spending their time to travel around the country and you feel that extra sense of responsibility,” he said.

“We’ve been doing better away from home this season particularly in the cup competitions and our style of play seems to suit playing away.

“Huddersfield were flying at the start of the season and they’ve got some great players and they like to play in a similar style to ourselves with a lot of focus on the wide positions.

“I’ve seen a lot of Championship games this season and every team is capable of beating each other so it’s very hard to predict how games will play out against these teams and it will definitely be a tough game.”