Wigan Athletic on top of the world - Down Under!

The Sydney-born defender – on a season-long loan from Leicester – was one of the heroes of Wigan’s backs-to-the-wall 1-0 win against the runaway Premier League leaders on Monday night.

And he says news of the giantkilling didn’t take long in reaching his homeland.

“I switched my phone back on after the game and it just went absolutely mad,” Elder told the Wigan Post.

“My family and friends have all been in touch since, and it’s lovely to have that support from back home.

“This win’s made big headlines, not just over here but across the world as far as Australia.

“And the whole club should be very proud for what happened.

“Wigan just seem to have a history of turning over Manchester City in the FA Cup.

“It’s happened twice before in recent years, and we’re all proud to be part of the team that did it again.”

Despite Wigan’s dominance in the competition over City in recent years – including the 2013 final and 2014 quarter-final – few believed lightning would strike for a third time in Monday night’s fifth-round tie.

But after withstanding the best the visitors could throw at them – and boosted by the sending-off of City defender Fabian Delph at the midway point, Latics broke and struck a killer blow through Will Grigg’s seventh FA Cup goal of the campaign.

“I still can’t believe what’s happened – none of us can,” acknowledged Elder.

“But we worked hard during the week and we knew we had a chance.

“Let’s be honest, it was never going to be an easy task.

“But we called on the incredible belief we all had as soon as the draw was made.

“Even leading up to the goal – and although they had more and more of the ball – we knew against 10 men we could nick something.

“To get the goal and then hold on for the win...the best night of my career by a mile.

“Their strength in depth is absolutely frightening.

“To be able to bring someone like (Kevin) de Bruyne off the bench is outrageous.

“We knew we had to try and impose ourselves as best we could, and the man advantage in the second half gave us renewed hope.

“They’re a quality team and we knew they’d keep the ball for long periods, but we hung in there and got our rewards.”