Goals after the hour-mark from Riyad Mahrez and Jack Grealish eased Manchester City past Peterborough and into the quarter-finals of the FA Cup. Elsewhere, an extra-time goal helped Middlesbrough knock Tottenham Hotspur out of the competition.
Surviving an early score through Jeando Fuchs – who had ghosted in behind the backline before drawing a save out of Ederson – City eased past Championship outfit Peterborough United in the FA Cup fifth round. Mahrez opened the scoring on the night just as the clock signalled an hour of action played. The winger collected the ball from Phil Foden out on the right before cutting back inside. The Algeria international then stood up his marker before using his tricky feet to create an opening through which he guided the ball into the far corner.
Seven minutes past the hour, Grealish made it 2-0 as he timed his run perfectly in behind the Peterborough defence to get on the end of an excellent long pass from Foden, which he deftly brought down under his control with his first touch and guided past the goalkeeper with his second.
Centre-back Aymeric Laporte squandered the chance to add to City’s tally late on as he failed to connect with a ball across the box despite the goal gaping. Nonetheless, Pep Guardiola’s men comfortably cruised into the next round.
Elsewhere, second-tier side Middlesbrough claimed their second big scalp of this year’s competition. Having eliminated Manchester United in the fourth round, Boro knocked out Antonio Conte’s Tottenham in the fifth.
The Championship side went toe-to-toe with Spurs – sharing territory and creating a similar number of shooting opportunities at the opposition goal. However, all their effort looked to have gone down the drain when Harry Kane smashed the ball into the net from a knock-down during a corner, but for the referee to rule his goal out for offside.
Boro kept their composure and forced the game into extra time, where, in the 107th minute, Jordan Coburn came up with the winning goal after playing a give-and-go with Matt Crooks and firing an unstoppable shot past Hugo Lloris. Chris Wilder’s side held on for whatever time that remained and came out of the tie as worthy winners.
