Report by John Patrick Heeley

Stoke City's name will be in Monday's draw for the Fourth Round of the FA Cup after a brace of goals from former Wigan target Chris Greenacre and a Chris Iwelumo strike in between sealed the victory over Paul Jewell's side at the Britannia Stadium.

Paul Jewell switched his side around for this FA Cup Third Round tie against Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium, resting a couple of his key players and dropping two more to the bench.

However, at the end of the day, the side that took to the field were experienced enough for the task but three pieces of clinical finishing from the home side were more than enough to take them through to the next stage of the competition and nobody could have argued with that.

Centre half Jason De Vos and midfielder Tony Dinning, who spent the final stages of last season on loan at the Britannia Stadium, were left out of the 16 man squad altogether so that they could recharge their batteries with a big game at Bristol City coming up. Leading scorer Nathan Ellington and Lee McCulloch were dropped to the bench with Neil Roberts and Scott Green slotting into their place.

Wigan had started brightly but once striker Chris Greenacre had opened the scoring in the 20th minute Paul Jewell's men were staring down the barrell of a cup exit.

Wigan were awarded a free kick on the right hand edge of the Stoke penalty area after five minutes when goalkeeper Neil Cutler came off his line to collect but his momentum had carried him outside of the area. The free kick, however, came to nothing with Peter Kennedy failing to find anyone as he whipped it across the face of goal.

Stoke had their first attempt of note just before the 10 minute mark when Wayne Thomas found Brynjar Gunnarrson by the left hand side of the Wigan area but the Icelander's shot flew straight at John Filan who spilled the ball but collected at the second attempt.

Stoke City hit their first goal in the 20th minute when a Bjarni Gudjonsson corner was only half cleared. The ball was lobbed back into the area by James O'Connor where CHRIS GREENACRE smashed it home from 6 yards out.

Greenacre wasted a chance to double his and his side's tally for the afternoon when he sent the ball the wrong side of the upright after former Ajax midfielder Peter Hoekstra had set him up just inside the area.

Minutes later Gary Teale went close to levelling for Wigan after Peter Kennedy had laid the ball off for him but after good work the Scot could only manage to fire wide.

Pulis' side doubled their lead just after the half hour mark and what a goal it was. Hoekstra charged down the left flank before sending a cross over to the far side of the Wigan area where CHRIS IWELUMO was perfectly placed to smash home a volley from 15 yards out.

Five minutes later Jarrett sent a header straight at Cutler, making his first appearance in goal for over a month in place of on loan Steve Banks after Bolton refused permission for their keeper to be cup tied.

With Wigan chasing the game Paul Jewell made two changes during the break with Nathan Ellington and Lee McCulloch both introduced to the action at the expense of Scott Green and Neil Roberts.

The two substitutes quickly got stuck into the game and within a couple of minutes of the restart The Duke got himself into a goalscoring position but his header from McCulloch's cross flew narrowly wide of the mark.

The game was over as a contest with just over 20 minutes remaining afte Stoke's third goal of the afternoon. Wigan earned themselves a corner after Cutler had blocked from Teale with the kick cleared upfield with Hoekstra taking the ball down the left before Marcus Hall took up the initiative.

The defender, currently on loan from Southampton, delivered a pin point cross to the centre of the box finding CHRIS GREENACRE who headed beyond Filan from close range.

The goal seemed to knock the stuffing out of the Wigan side and with their enthusiasm for the game sucked dry the final minutes of the tie on the whole belonged to Stoke.

The First Division side passed the ball about confidently and at times a little showboating was evident as they counted down the seconds for their first FA Cup Third Round victory since the 1993/94 season when they needed a replay against Bath City to earn a Fourth Round tie at Oldham Athletic.

The game also saw John Filan concede more than 2 goals in a game for the first time since signing for Wigan just over 12 months ago and the first time in any game since Rob Edwards' injury time goal gave Huddersfield Town a 3-2 win over Blackburn Rovers in a First Division match at the McAlpine Stadium in August 1999.