TNT Sports
City into last-eight
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Published 14/03/2006 at 19:52 GMT
Manchester City are into the last-eight of the FA Cup after a 2-1 home win over Aston Villa on Tuesday. Georgios Samaras opened the scoring and ex-Villa striker weighed in with the second. The Villains did get a late goal from Steven Davis but City held o
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Having needed a last-gasp equaliser from 17-year-old full back Micah Richards in the first game, City made the most of their chances in this FA Cup fifth-round replay to ensure a quarter-final berth against either West Ham or Bolton Wanderers.
Samaras had a touch of class about him in the first-half, until a swollen knee curtailed his involvement and had provided the perfect outlet for a dominant midfield.
Both Trevor Sinclair and Albert Riera provided true width that constantly tested a ragged Villa defence that struggled to cope under fire.
In truth, the game should have been dead and buried before the Villain's late consolation goal, but the City defence was able to hand on, marshalled superbly by the inexperienced Richards, forced into an appearance at centre-back by an injury to Sylvain Distin.
THE FLASHING BLADE
The hosts, having wasted a raft of chances in the first game, started out like they meant business this time, determined to get the goals their often attractive style of play deserved.
With Joey Barton and Kizito Musampa pulling the strings in the centre, Villa had already survived a host of near misses before Samaras struck just after the quarter hour.
The Greek international raced clear down the left before cutting into the box and unleashing a powerful drive that Thomas Sorensen did well to parry.
However, luck was not on the side of the Danish keeper and the ball rebounded straight back into the path of Samaras who made no mistake with his right-footed finish into the unguarded net to give his team the lead they needed.
The visitors seemed to wilt under the pressure and were lucky not to ship any more goals before the break.
Sorensen was back to his best to deny Sinclair as he broke clear of a stretched Villa rearguard as he parried a low shot to his right near the end of the half, at which point it seemed a case of when, and not if, Stuart Pearce's men would extend their lead.
GAME OVER?
As it was, the Manchester faithful didn't have long to wait before they were able to breath a little easier.
In the opening minutes of the second period Sorensen's defence failed him again as they failed to effectively clear a corner.
The ball fell to Stephen Jordan who bounced a shot back across goal into the path of an unsuspecting Vassell who couldn't help but turn the ball into the net to effectively sink his former employers.
But David O'Leary's troops are made of stern stuff, and managed to start to make some forays into the City area as they were forced to throw caution to the wind.
They huffed and they puffed but their final ball let them down too often when they were able to get into promising positions, especially from set pieces.
Eventually the Birmingham bases outfit were able to give themselves a chance when, with just five minutes left to play, they finally found the net with their first clear chance of the match.
Some cute interplay between Kevin Phillips and Luke Moore put Davis clear on goal and he gave David James no chance with his low finish and set hearts fluttering in the City of Manchester Stadium.
But City managed to survive some late pressure to claim the win that puts them on course for a first trophy of any kind in exactly 30 years.
In order to break that duck they face a quarter-final next week against the winner of Wednesday's replay between West Ham and Bolton Wanderers.
With home advantage, Stuart Pearce will fancy his team's chances of making the semi's where, of course, anything can happen.
FA Cup quarter-finals
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