Swindon old-boy Kevin Horlock applied the killer blow against his former club
as unimpressive Manchester City booked their fourth round place in the FA Cup.
City were holding a slender one-goal lead mid-way through the second half when
Horlock showed Swindon no favours by scoring the decisive second goal.
Swindon, mid-table in division two, gave a creditable account of themselves
against the first division leaders, but never threatened to cause a cup upset.
They didn't manage a single shot on target in the entire 90 minutes, though
dogged defending restricted City to few goalscoring chances.
When City took an eighth-minute lead through Paulo Wanchope it looked as
though victory would be a cake walk.
The Costa Rican striker headed home his 10th goal of an injury interrupted
season from inside the six yard box. Eyal Berkovic seized on a poor defensive
header from Matthew Heywood and centred from the right of the penalty area for
Wanchope to score.
City started showboating and playing as though victory was already in the bag,
something which could have been dangerous with only a one-goal advantage.
It wasn't until late in the opening half that City regained urgency with Ali
Benarbia and Darren Huckerby forcing Swindon goalkeeper Bart Griemink to make
super saves.
A disappointing second half followed a similar pattern with City in command
without ever looking like scoring a second.
But Horlock finally made the game safe in the 63rd minute with an excellently
placed shot from the left of the penalty area low to the left of Griemink after
a neat build up involving Benarbia and Berkovic.
And right at the death Huckerby came within a lick of paint of adding a third
goal following a breakaway on the left.
The striker cut in and watched in disbelief as his shot beat Griemink but came
out after hitting the far upright.
City might have paid a heavy price for their victory, however, as they lost
defender Richard Edghill in the first half with a hamstring strain while in the
dying seconds Shaun Wright-Phillips limped out of the game with a leg injury.
Teams
Man City: Nash, Edghill (Pearce 38), Ritchie, Howey, Dunne,
Berkovic (Haaland 77), Horlock, Benarbia, Wright-Phillips,
Huckerby, Wanchope (Goater 78).
Subs Not Used: Weaver, Negouai.
Booked: Berkovic.
Goals: Wanchope 8, Horlock 62.
Swindon: Griemink, Reeves, Heywood, Steve Robinson, Gurney,
Invincibile, Howe (Grazioli 77), McAreavey (Davis 64),
Carlisle, Duke, Sabin.
Subs Not Used: McKinney, Brayley, Mark Robinson.
Booked: Carlisle, Grazioli.
Att: 21,581
Ref: C Foy (St. Helens).
E-mail Article 
Print-Friendly
Subscribe to RSS Feed 
Post to del.icio.us
Facebook