MAN CITY 5, HUDDERSFIELD TOWN 1
Manchester City swept into the quarter finals of the Emirates FA Cup with an emphatic victory against Huddersfield Town.
After being held to a goalless round in the fifth-round tie at the John Smith’s Stadium, there was no slip up second-time round for City.
But there was an early scare when former City trainee Harry Bunn fired the Terriers ahead early in the match.
Once City got into their stride – it took half an hour to get off the mark – there was no mistake.
They scored three goals in eight first-half minutes from Leroy Sane, Sergio Aguero and Pablo Zabaleta to take control.
And in the second half, there were further goals from Aguero and substitute Kelechi Iheanacho as City booked a last-eight tie at Middlesbrough.
Indeed, City could have had an even greater goal tally as they twice struck the frame of the goal and also had four penalty appeals rejected, all for handball.
City manager Pep Guardiola was happy saying: “From the keeper to the strikers, there were some very good performances.
“Against Monaco and tonight we can to come from behind and you have to be so tough mentally to do that.
“We are still in the process of growing. There were a lot of good things, but we are still a long way from being solid and consistency.
“We have scored five and four goals in our last two games, created lots of chances when we attacked. People enjoyed the way we played and we are happy to be in the quarter final.”
Guardiola would not be drawn on the issue of keeper Claudio Bravo who was greeted with ironic cheers every time he made a save or touched the ball explaining he is strong enough to handle that.
It was clear where Huddersfield’s priorities lie – promotion to the Premier League – as they made nine changes from the side that drew with Barnsley on Saturday. The third-placed Terriers had Saturday’s home game against leaders Newcastle United as their priority.
City, by contrast, began with seven of the starters from the Champions League game against AS Monaco last Tuesday, their last game.
There were recalls for keeper Bravo, full-backs Pablo Zabaleta and Gael Clichy, and Aleix Garcia who took over from Willy Caballero, Bacary Sagna, Yaya Toure and David Silva.
City made a bright start as Leroy Sane struck the upright with a rasping drive in the fourth minute.
But it was the Terriers who snatched the lead in the seventh minute.
Philip Billing dummied a crossfield ball to release Bunn who was completely free on the left. He raced into the box and fired a shot low under Bravo from 10 yards to the delight of 7,000 visiting fans.
City had claims for a penalty rejected after Fernandinho’s goalbound shot was deflected over by Jon Stankovic, but it appeared to hit the hand of the defender.
The equaliser came after half an hour after Sterling cut in from the left and his low cross was walked into the net by Sane from a couple of yards, his fifth goal of the season.
It was City’s eighth goal in the FA Cup this season from seven different scorers.
City were 2-1 ahead five minutes later from the penalty spot after referee Paul Tierney saw Stankovic manhandle Nicolas Otamendi to the ground. Aguero fired home from 12 yards high into the roof of the net for his 21st of the season.
It was almost three for City not long after when Aguero broke and saw his shot beat keeper Joel Coleman, but strike the upright.
That proved only a temporary reprieve as one minute later City scored a third goal. Aguero’s initial shot was beaten out by Coleman, but only back to the Argentine whose low cross was rifled home by Zabaleta from inside the six-yard box for his second goal of the season.
Huddersfield were denied a second goal just before the break when Jack Payne was denied by Bravo to ironic cheers from the City fans as he had made a save.
The visitors made a bright start to the second half as Collin Quaner had a shot deflected narrowly wide and Joe Lolley saw a free header from six yards clear the crossbar.
City came close to adding a fourth goal when Kevin De Bruyne’s free kick was turned round the post by Coleman diving to his right.
That finally arrived in the 75th minute after a great move. Fernandinho won the ball in field before Zabaleta sent Sterling away on the right. His low cross was converted by Aguero with a shot from seven yards into the far top corner of the net.
City made their first change with 15 minutes left when De Bruyne was replaced by Fabian Delph and he was soon followed by Iheanacho who came on for Aguero and Jesus Navas for Sane.
Huddersfield ought to have scored again when Quaner snatched at a shot that cleared the crossbar.
But City added a fifth goal in stoppage time when two of their substitutes combined as a cross by Navas was converted by Iheanacho from three yards.