Harbinger Of Glory

After Dawson’s interview, the broadcast cut back to the studio, and for several seconds, nobody spoke.

The pundits simply watched the final seconds of Dawson’s interview replay across the large screen in front of them before, eventually, the first pundit leaned back in his chair.

”Well, that was that.”

And to that, his colleague gave a small nod.

”Wigan Athletic have finally dropped points.”

”Finally,” the first pundit repeated, looking towards the screen.

”After fourteen straight wins, they’ve had to settle for a draw against Arsenal.”

As the two talked, another pundit shook his head.

”There are some people who have finally gotten what they wanted,” and when he said that, the first pundit glanced at him.

”What do you mean?”

”People have been waiting for Wigan to drop points. They finally have,” he paused before adding, ”But we shouldn’t use that penalty at the end to shield everything else that happened tonight.”

The first pundit turned towards him.

”You think the officials got it wrong?”

”Don’t we all. I think the referee had a very questionable night,” he said and went on to lean forward slightly.

”And I’m not saying that because Wigan missed the penalty. They should have won this game three-one before we even got there.”

”The first goal,” he continued.

”The referee says he had stopped play, and technically, yes, he had blown the whistle. But Calderon saw the ball, touched it and restarted quickly. If the referee wanted to prevent that restart, fine.

But then Ben White is standing right there. Give him the yellow card. Make it absolutely clear that the restart was not permitted.”

He spread his hands, as if that would help him get his point across.

”Instead, we get this strange situation where Wigan think they’ve taken the free kick, Arsenal think play has stopped, and the goal is disallowed. That’s avoidable.”

He moved on without waiting.

”Then you have Arsenal’s second goal. Rice gets the ball, but there is contact with Calderon. It’s exactly the kind of incident where you expect VAR to at least have a look, especially because the resulting attack ends with Arsenal scoring.”

The other pundit nodded slowly.

”And the penalty?”

”That one was a penalty, without a question. I don’t even know why he comes into him like that!”

”Rice had already been involved in a number of fouls throughout the game, and then that final challenge catches Calderon on the heels. The referee gives him a yellow. If you’re going to allow that kind of contact repeatedly, there comes a point where the punishment has to change.”

He leaned back.

”Wigan have been playing some of the best football we’ve seen from a newly established Premier League side in years, but to me, it seems some people don’t like it!”

The first pundit smiled slightly.

”They’ve certainly changed the conversation.”

”They have. And that’s why I actually agree with Dawson on one thing. The only thing that is going to come out of tonight is probably an apology.”

He shrugged.

”Maybe the refereeing body explains a decision. Maybe they say something was missed. But Wigan don’t get the points back.”

Nobody immediately responded as the pundit looked back towards the replay of Reyes’ penalty hitting the crossbar.

”And that’s the frustrating part.”

He paused.

”It has been nice to see a side that most people didn’t expect much from take these huge strides in this league. They haven’t just survived. They’ve pushed themselves right into the title conversation.”

His eyes remained on the screen.

”And tonight, for a moment, it almost felt like the league was trying to remind them of their place.”

The studio moved on with the talk, but the same couldn’t be said outside.

Within minutes, clips from the Emirates were spreading across social media, accompanied by arguments that seemed to multiply with every replay.

Some Arsenal supporters were already celebrating the result.

@NorthBankDan: Raya has just saved us from absolute madness. That penalty was huge.

Another Arsenal fan responded beneath it.

@GunnerTom: Fair result. Wigan were dangerous, but Arsenal created enough chances to win that.

And underneath that, a Wigan supporter replied almost immediately.

@LaticsDicky: ”Fair result” after our goal gets disallowed, Leo gets wiped out for their second, then Rice gets just one yellow for 9 fouls? Come on.

@TacticsAndTea: The disallowed goal is some shitty refereeing. Calderon clearly knew the whistle had gone. He took the risk. The ref was within his rights to stop it.

For a while, it was just about the disallowed goal before the argument then moved on to Arsenal’s very debatable second goal!

@Wankerhjob: The Odegaard goal is the one I’d be talking about if I were Wigan. Rice gets the ball, yes, but the contact on Calderon happens immediately before the transition.

@RedNorthLondon: Rice gets the ball cleanly. That’s why play continued. You can’t stop every counter because someone goes down.

@TheAwayEnd: Reyes misses the biggest chance of the night, and somehow that’s not even the thing we’re angry about.

The replies were split about the challenge on Calderon.

Some argued that getting the ball first settled the matter.

Others pointed towards Leo’s legs and the number of fouls committed throughout the match.

The conversation continued long after the players had left the pitch, with the result itself becoming almost secondary to the decisions, the missed chances and the question everyone seemed to have an answer for.

Had Arsenal escaped with a point?

Had Wigan thrown away a win?

Or had the two sides simply played a game too chaotic to be reduced to either?

And just like it had been said, barely a few hours had passed when the Football Association released its official review of the match.

It appeared quietly on the FA’s website buried beneath the usual collection of weekend fixtures and disciplinary updates.

The statement reviewed several of the major incidents from the game at the Emirates.

According to the review, the decision to disallow Wigan’s first goal had been correctly based on the referee having stopped play before Calderon took the quick free kick, although the FA acknowledged that the situation could have been handled more clearly.

The second Arsenal goal received a different assessment.

The review stated that the contact between Declan Rice and Leo Calderon in the build-up should have been ”revisited” by the video officials, with the FA admitting that the incident had not received the level of review it warranted.

The referee’s decision to award the penalty was deemed correct, while the yellow card issued to Rice was considered appropriate under the circumstances.

There were also several other incidents mentioned throughout the report, with the FA acknowledging that some of the decisions could have been reviewed more thoroughly during the match.

Then, almost as an afterthought, came the final paragraph.

The Football Association expressed its regret to Wigan Athletic for the errors and shortcomings identified during the review and apologised for the impact they had on the match.

And that was it.

Just an apology, exactly as Dawson had predicted.