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Cheltenham Town 1-3 Man City: Six-time winners avoid FA Cup shock

Cheltenham Town came within nine minutes of one of the biggest shocks in recent FA Cup history before Manchester City staged a dramatic late rally to crush the dreams of the gallant League Two side.

The Robins, 72 places below City who sit second in the Premier League, threatened huge embarrassment for Pep Guardiola’s side after Alfie May put Cheltenham ahead on the hour after a trademark long throw from captain Ben Tozer caused chaos in the area.

City, who made ten changes to the team that beat Aston Villa in the Premier League on Wednesday, spared their embarrassment when Phil Foden, the game’s outstanding player, arrived at the far post to turn in substitute Joao Cancelo’s long cross in the 81st minute.

And the turnaround was complete three minutes later when a rare moment of slackness in the outstanding Cheltenham defence, with goalkeeper Josh Griffiths superb, switched off and Gabriel Jesus scored from Fernandinho’s delivery.

Ferran Torres scored Manchester City’s third with the last kick of the game to give the scoreline a cruel reflection on Cheltenham’s heroic efforts.

It was so cruel on manager Michael Duff and his players, who now go back the battle for promotion from League Two, while City will be away at Swansea in the fifth round.

“I’m incredibly proud,” the Robins boss said of his side’s display. “The players they brought on from the bench and they way they celebrated the goals tells you something. They know they’ve been in a game. They’ve done that to better teams than us.”

The pride of Cheltenham

The sight of Manchester City manager Guardiola disputing where Cheltenham could take a throw-in said everything about the way the League Two underdogs gave their mighty opponents a serious fright.

Tozer’s throw-ins were causing all manner of problems and led to Cheltenham’s goal but there was so much more to their performance than that set-piece weapon, a threat any manager in the game would utilise.

Cheltenham tried to play football when they got the chance, with goalscorer May, who has done the hard yards in non-league before playing for Doncaster and now Cheltenham, a leading light.

Robins keeper Griffiths, who suffered the ignominy of being beaten from 71 yards by his Newport County opposite number Tom King in midweek, was in defiant form as he saved well from Riyad Mahrez and Torres, showing command throughout. Tozer’s headed goalline clearance from Benjamin Mendy in the first half was also symbolic of their ‘they shall not pass’ approach.

There may have been no fans inside this compact stadium but there was still a real sense of occasion, the game being halted in the first half because of a firework display nearby.

In the end this will be a bitter disappointment to Cheltenham but they can be rightly proud and take huge confidence into their League Two promotion battle.

Duff highlighted how financially important the cup run was for his club.

“It’s essential,” he added. “Every pound coming in is probably worth a tenner in normal times.

“These games don’t come around very often. It’s a shame because [with fans] the place would’ve been bouncing. Would that have seen us through in the last 10 minutes? I’m not so sure – but the key is to enjoy it.”

Foden City’s shining light

Guardiola made 10 changes to his line-up to give Manchester City’s shadow squad a chance to impress.

Some, like the erratic Mendy, did not take that opportunity and it was someone establishing himself in City’s side that spared the blushes of this expensively assembled squad.

Foden was magnificent, so light on his feet with glorious ball control, endless creativity and the man pulling the strings for City even when they were struggling to break down resilient Cheltenham.

The 20-year-old was head and shoulders above his City team-mates. He was the one who was going to pull them out of their grim predicament if anyone was, and so it proved when he popped up with the crucial late equaliser that lifted Guardiola’s team and deflated Cheltenham.

Foden had already carved out chances for Mahrez and Gabriel Jesus that were not taken so it was a case of ‘do it yourself’ when he was the player on target.

The fact Guardiola was forced to use three subs in Ruben Dias, Ilkay Gundogan and Joao Cancelo once Cheltenham went ahead proved how worried the Premier League giants were.

This was an unimpressive, scratchy display from City’s much-changed team, with Guardiola resting so many of the players who are giving them such an ominous look in the Premier League – luckily they had the brilliance of Foden to pull them out of a deep hole.

Guardiola praised the England attacking midfielder for his impressive performance.

“Foden is in a great moment and with great confidence,” he said.

“He is clinical in front of goal and he had a similar chance to the goal we scored at [Chelsea’s] Stamford Bridge – he is playing really well.”

The City manager suggested he was confident in the players he put out on the pitch.

“I didn’t have regrets even when we were 1-0 down, we had clear chances from the first minute,” he added.

“When they take advantage it gets complicated, but we got it to 1-1 and it was tight. We came here with humility and had the quality to make the difference.”

City concede after 509 minutes – the stats

  • Cheltenham have lost all nine of their competitive meetings with Premier League sides, by an aggregate score of 6-23.
  • City have won 10 consecutive games in all competitions for the first time since a run of 11 from August to October 2017.
  • May’s opener for Cheltenham was the first goal City had conceded in 509 minutes of action in all competitions, since Callum Hudson-Odoi’s strike for Chelsea at the start of the month.
  • Foden is City’s top scorer in all competitions this season with nine goals in 25 appearances, one more than he netted in 38 games last season.
  • Jesus has been involved in 12 goals in 13 FA Cup appearances for City, scoring eight and assisting four.
  • May has scored four goals in his four FA Cup games for Cheltenham, with each of his eight goals in total in the competition coming in home games.

Player of the match

TozerBen Tozer

with an average of 8.78

Cheltenham Town

  1. Squad number4Player nameTozer

    Average rating

    8.78

  2. Squad number10Player nameMay

    Average rating

    8.66

  3. Squad number18Player nameAzaz

    Average rating

    8.32

  4. Squad number17Player nameFreestone

    Average rating

    8.25

  5. Squad number8Player nameClements

    Average rating

    8.24

  6. Squad number11Player nameBlair

    Average rating

    8.17

  7. Squad number19Player nameLloyd

    Average rating

    8.17

  8. Squad number15Player nameBoyle

    Average rating

    8.15

  9. Squad number7Player nameThomas

    Average rating

    8.14

  10. Squad number5Player nameRaglan

    Average rating

    8.02

  11. Squad number20Player nameGriffiths

    Average rating

    8.00

  12. Squad number14Player nameWilliams

    Average rating

    7.82

  13. Squad number2Player nameLong

    Average rating

    7.80

  14. Squad number16Player nameAddai

    Average rating

    7.68

Manchester City

  1. Squad number47Player nameFoden
    Average rating

    6.60

  2. Squad number27Player nameJoão Cancelo
    Average rating

    5.68

  3. Squad number8Player nameGündogan
    Average rating

    5.59

  4. Squad number3Player nameRúben Dias
    Average rating

    5.30

  5. Squad number21Player nameTorres
    Average rating

    5.10

  6. Squad number25Player nameFernandinho
    Average rating

    4.98

  7. Squad number13Player nameSteffen
    Average rating

    4.98

  8. Squad number9Player nameGabriel Jesus
    Average rating

    4.88

  9. Squad number69Player nameDoyle
    Average rating

    4.76

  10. Squad number78Player nameHarwood-Bellis
    Average rating

    4.59

  11. Squad number14Player nameLaporte
    Average rating

    4.58

  12. Squad number26Player nameMahrez
    Average rating

    4.45

  13. Squad number50Player nameGarcía
    Average rating

    4.44

  14. Squad number22Player nameMendy
    Average rating

    3.96

Line-ups

Cheltenham

Formation 5-4-1

  • 20Griffiths
  • 11Blair
  • 5RaglanBooked at 48mins
  • 4TozerBooked at 84mins
  • 15BoyleBooked at 24mins
  • 17Freestone
  • 18AzazSubstituted forWilliamsat 81′minutes
  • 8ClementsSubstituted forAddaiat 89′minutes
  • 10May
  • 7Thomas
  • 19LloydSubstituted forLongat 69′minutes

Substitutes

  • 1Flinders
  • 2Long
  • 6Bowry
  • 14Williams
  • 16Addai
  • 22Harris
  • 30Ebanks

Man City

Formation 4-4-2

  • 13Steffen
  • 78Harwood-BellisSubstituted forRúben Diasat 68′minutes
  • 50García
  • 14LaporteBooked at 60mins
  • 22MendySubstituted forCanceloat 77′minutes
  • 26Mahrez
  • 69DoyleSubstituted forGündoganat 68′minutes
  • 25Fernandinho
  • 47Foden
  • 21Torres
  • 9Gabriel Jesus

Substitutes

  • 3Rúben Dias
  • 7Sterling
  • 8Gündogan
  • 11Zinchenko
  • 16Rodri
  • 20Bernardo Silva
  • 27Cancelo
  • 31Ederson
  • 82Bernabé

Referee:
Stuart Attwell

Match Stats

Live Text

  1. Match ends, Cheltenham Town 1, Manchester City 3.

  2. Second Half ends, Cheltenham Town 1, Manchester City 3.

  3. Goal! Cheltenham Town 1, Manchester City 3. Ferran Torres (Manchester City) right footed shot from very close range to the centre of the goal. Assisted by Ilkay Gündogan.

  4. Substitution, Cheltenham Town. Alex Addai replaces Chris Clements.

  5. Eric García (Manchester City) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

  6. Foul by Alfie May (Cheltenham Town).

  7. Attempt missed. Matty Blair (Cheltenham Town) right footed shot from the right side of the box is too high following a corner.

  8. Corner, Cheltenham Town. Conceded by João Cancelo.

  9. Ben Tozer (Cheltenham Town) is shown the yellow card.

  10. Goal! Cheltenham Town 1, Manchester City 2. Gabriel Jesus (Manchester City) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the centre of the goal. Assisted by Fernandinho with a through ball.

  11. Goal! Cheltenham Town 1, Manchester City 1. Phil Foden (Manchester City) left footed shot from the left side of the six yard box to the top left corner. Assisted by João Cancelo with a cross.

  12. Substitution, Cheltenham Town. Andy Williams replaces Finn Azaz.

  13. Attempt missed. João Cancelo (Manchester City) left footed shot from outside the box misses to the left. Assisted by Riyad Mahrez.

  14. Phil Foden (Manchester City) wins a free kick in the attacking half.

  15. Foul by Conor Thomas (Cheltenham Town).

  16. Attempt missed. Phil Foden (Manchester City) header from the centre of the box is too high. Assisted by João Cancelo with a cross.

  17. Substitution, Manchester City. João Cancelo replaces Benjamin Mendy.

  18. Rúben Dias (Manchester City) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

  19. Foul by Alfie May (Cheltenham Town).

  20. Rúben Dias (Manchester City) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

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