Football
Man City Survive FA Cup Scare As Nico O’Reilly’s Brace Completes Comeback To Knock Plymouth Out
After graduating from Kingston University with an upper second-class Honours degree, I learned the ropes in sports journalism starting at Sports Mole before making my way through the ranks at the MailOnline. I started initially as a freelancer before going on to become an assistant sports editor in seven years at the company. Love football, cursed by Spurs and you can catch me watching/falling asleep to the F1 while hungover on a Sunday.
Get to know Sam McEvoy betterPublished01 Mar 2025
Watch the full FA Cup highlights below as Man City came from a goal behind to knock giant-killers Plymouth out.
Man City Survive FA Cup Banana Skin To Knock Plymouth Out
City started on the front foot and came close to scoring the first goal at the Etihad. Ilkay Gundogan fired a powerful shot but the German could only find the post, with the Championship side breathing a sigh of relief.
Then it looked as if Plymouth were on the cusp of pulling off another FA Cup giant-killing after taking the lead shortly before the break.
With the first effort on City’s goal, Maksym Talovierov headed in a corner to send the away fans in pandemonium.
However, Plymouth’s lead only last seven minutes with Nico O’Reilly heading in Kevin De Bruyne’s inviting free-kick in the first minute of first-half stoppage time.
On the hour mark, Pep Guardiola sent on Erling Haaland in the hope of taking the lead.
Haaland became an instant threat but shockingly missed a sitter from five yards out, blazing the football over the bar.
The Norwegian talisman then saw his shot saved at point-blank range, before Bernardo Silva’s follow-up at close range was deflected behind for a corner.
But the pressure proved to be too much in the end, with O’Reilly grabbing his second of the game from the resulting corner.
Kevin De Bruyne then made sure of the result as he tapped in Haaland’s cross from close range to advance to the FA Cup quarter-finals.