Manchester City 8 Salford City 0: Blues cruise into fourth round with emphatic victory

By Ethan Aspinall, Sun 12 January 2025 15:33


Manchester City 8 Salford City 0: Blues cruise into fourth round with emphatic victoryJames McAtee hits second-half hat-trick and Jack Grealish ends goal drought

Manchester City advanced to the FA cup 4th round after hitting 8 goals past League two Salford City. It was a game which included a first City hat trick for academy player James Mcatee and first goals for other young players such as Divin Mubama and Nico O’Reilly.

Ederson started the game in goal following his spell on the sidelines in the place of Stefan Ortega. Jahmai Simpson-Pusey and Nathan Ake appeared to be City’s only two sole starting defenders with a large midfield consisting of Matheus Nunes, James Mcatee, Ilkay Gundogan, Nico O’Reilly and Jack Grealish with Savio, Jeremy Doku and Mubama in attack.

It was a fast start for the blues with the first goal coming after just 8 minutes with a well set attacking move from Nunes to thread the ball through to Grealish who layed it off for Doku who struck the ball to the far right corner hitting the post and in for the first goal of the game. An ideal start for the slightly inexperienced City side and exactly what Salford were hoping not to happen, who would have been motivated to try and cause an upset at the Etihad due to their ownership consisting of ex United players and also to reach the FA cup fourth round for the first time.

Unfortunately for the Ammies, no such shock looked like it would ever take place as City absolutely ran the show. The second goal came in the 20th minute and was scored by new boy Mubama who poked the ball in following a chip right into his path from Savio to double City’s lead.

The slight glimpse of any sort of chance for Salford came around the half an hour mark when the ball was in a good shooting position for Salford forward Kouassi who struck on target but it was an easy claim for Ederson and never really troubled him. Shortly after this occurrence, the third goal came for City, this time it was scored by O’Reilly who struck the ball into the bottom right corner to close the first half with a very comfortable lead for the Blues.

Salford might’ve hoped that the second half may be a little more quiet, but unfortunately for them it was the exact opposite as City showed absolutely no sign of showing any mercy throughout. Just four minutes in to the second half, a mistake from the defence that led to Grealish being brought down in the area led to a City penalty being awarded. The penalty was converted by Grealish to score his first City goal since December 2023 and extend the Blues lead to 4-0. Ten minutes later, Mcatee made it five with a brilliant finish on his side foot following an excellent cross in from Doku.

Problems were still not going away for Salford as just 2 minutes after the 5th goal a shot from Doku struck the hand of defender Tilt and yet another penalty was awarded for City and like Grealish, Doku converted his penalty without much fuss making it 6-0 with still 25 minutes left to play.

James Mcatee in particular was no where near finishing business despite a six goal lead. In the 72nd minute, what looked like a shot from Foden fell to Mcatee who slotted the ball in. The flag stayed down and it was 7-0 to City with a little under 20 minutes to be played. 9 minutes later, it was a hat trick for Mcatee, his first after he got on the end of a cross in from Grealish to make it 8-0. An emphatic performance from City and perhaps slightly disappointing for Salford, who may have hoped they could put up more of a fight.

Salford managed to hold off City for the remainder of the match and no additional time was added with the match finally ending 8-0 with Salford being put out their misery and City cruising to the fourth round of the FA cup.

Ultimately, a massive win for City may be what they need to try and give them boost in what is still very much a difficult season for them as well as trying to regain the FA cup following the loss in the final last year, it will also give Guardiola some thoughts as to what can be done with the youngsters who featured on the night, especially Mcatee, whose City future has often been questioned. Salford will use this defeat as an opportunity to put full focus back on their league two campaign for promotion.