With nothing else but their grit and hope, West Ham kept coming for the remaining twenty minutes and kept finding nothing.
Every ball into the box met a Wigan body that had no business being there as quickly as it was.
West Ham kept finding ways out of their own half and were seeing more of the ball, but the issue with the team was what happened after they had the ball.
Bowen would break forward and find Seriki waiting.
Paquetá would drift into space and immediately have a blue shirt at his shoulder.
Benrahma would receive a wide pass, look up, and find the box crowded before he could even think about crossing.
The attacks never truly died, but they slowed and then eventually stalled, forcing them to backtrack.
Wigan's shape kept swallowing them whole.
Every player seemed to know exactly where the next danger was coming from, and five minutes later, West Ham were beginning to discover something frustrating:
