Scott Carson believes Wigan Athletic's Wembley odyssey is not over after cursing his side’s bad fortune in The FA Cup Semi-Final.

Goalkeeper Carson and his team-mates pushed Arsenal all the way in Saturday’s Semi-Final fighting out a 1-1 draw before they were cruelly defeated on penalties after extra-time.

But despite the setback, the shot-stopper says they will take great pride from this season’s Cup exploits and vowed to return to the Arch in next month’s Championship play-off final.

He told WembleyStadium.com: “We are all disappointed that we haven’t got through after going so close, but when it comes down to penalties you just don’t know what is going to happen.

 “It just wasn’t to be, but we have to give ourselves credit and we can be proud that we took them all the way to penalties.”

He added: “Our aim now is to come back here in May in the play-off final. We have to take a lot of confidence out of this, come back, and cement ourselves in the Premier League. There won’t be too many teams that want to play us.”

Wigan took a shock lead midway through the second-half when Per Mertersacker fouled Callum McManaman inside the area, leaving it to Jordi Gomez to step up to convert from the spot. 

Carson and his defence held firm until the 82nd minute when Arsenal’s Mertersacker headed an equaliser, but the keeper admits he did start to believe it would be their day as the clock reached 80 minutes. 

He said: “To be fair to Jordi, he has missed a few in the Championship, but he never shied away from it and stroked it home.

“Heading into the last ten minutes we all thought it was going to be our day, but we knew Arsenal would come at us and the goal they did score is not one you would associate with them.

“We are not going to say that we deserved it, but we gave ourselves a chance and we were unlucky with the penalties.

“All you can do is put them on target – then it comes down to a 50-50 chance. But fair play to Fabianski, he has done well and kept them on their Cup run.”