Manager Roberto Martinez immediately turned his thoughts to doing the “double” after Wigan Athletic won the FA Cup for the first time in their history.
Ben Watson came on as a substitute to score the winning goal in the last minute of normal time to defeat Manchester City 1-0 and give Wigan chairman Dave Whelan, the man who broke his leg in the 1960 FA Cup final, a night to remember for the rest of his days.
However, while Wigan’s travelling fans celebrated euphorically, there were no Champagne corks popping for the players.
Instead, they were ordered to take ice baths and turn up for training on Sunday in readiness for the next two league games which will determine their Premier League fate.
Wigan, three points adrift of safety in the relegation zone, play Arsenal on Tuesday at the Emirates stadium before a final showdown next Sunday against Aston Villa at the DW stadium.
Martinez said: “We are playing on Tuesday against Arsenal with a squad where we have six or seven players missing through injury.
“But we always face adversity and we don’t moan about it. We’ll get on with it.
“It is a shame that the final couldn’t be the final game of the season and we could have been enjoying and celebrating.
“I believe we can get enough points to stay in the league, which would be like winning the title. We will fight hard to get the double.”
Martinez praised Ben Watson and Callum McManaman in particular.
Watson broke his leg against Liverpool in November but battled to get back sooner than expected.
McManaman won man-of-the-match and Martinez saluted the 22-year-old winger, who hit the headlines for the wrong reasons two months ago with his horrific tackle on Massadio Haidara.