Nico O\u2019Reilly spared Manchester City\u2019s blushes as the teenager\u2019s double inspired a comeback 3-1 win over giant-killers Plymouth in the FA Cup fifth round on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Languishing in the Championship relegation zone, Plymouth had stunned Premier League leaders Liverpool in the fourth round after beating top-flight side Brentford in the third round.<\/span><\/p>\n Pep Guardiola\u2019s men were in danger of becoming Plymouth\u2019s latest famous scalp when Maksym Talovierov gave the visitors the lead in the first half at the Etihad Stadium.<\/span><\/p>\n But Manchester-born O\u2019Reilly, making just his sixth start for City, emerged as the unlikely hero with a brace that ensured his troubled team avoided their lowest moment in a turbulent season.<\/span><\/p>\n Kevin De Bruyne was also on target for City, who are hoping FA Cup glory can salvage a woeful campaign that sees them fourth in the Premier League and eliminated from the Champions League and League Cup.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cBig compliments to Plymouth for making our job so difficult. They were incredibly organised, but we played a good game,\u201d Guardiola said.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t take anything for granted when I saw how well they defended and the problems they created for Liverpool. They\u2019re an incredibly solid team.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe conceded a goal, but we were so solid. Nico is a big presence and can play in three or four positions. I\u2019m really happy for him; he helped us a lot.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Beaten by Manchester United in last season\u2019s FA Cup final, City are through to the quarter-finals as they look to win the competition for the third time in the Guardiola era.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHow many times in the last few years have we reached the semi-finals? When you arrive six times in a row in the semis, it\u2019s because it\u2019s important. I\u2019m really proud, I love it,\u201d Guardiola said.<\/span><\/p>\n Liverpool had paid the price for fielding a weakened team in their 1-0 loss at Plymouth, and City found themselves in peril as well after Guardiola changed his entire starting line-up from Wednesday\u2019s league win at Tottenham.<\/span><\/p>\n City forward Phil Foden\u2019s deflected strike trickled just wide before Conor Hazard saved Ilkay G\u00fcndogan\u2019s header.<\/span><\/p>\n Plymouth sat deep in a bid to frustrate City, who were inches away from ending the visitors\u2019 resistance when G\u00fcndogan fired against the post from 10 yards after Jack Grealish\u2019s cross found the German midfielder.<\/span><\/p>\n Argyle\u2019s plan was working perfectly as Guardiola\u2019s team laboured to make headway before falling behind to a 38th-minute sucker punch.<\/span><\/p>\n Ukrainian defender Talovierov rose above the flat-footed City defence to meet a corner with a superb header that gave Stefan Ortega no chance as it arrowed into the far corner.<\/span><\/p>\n Vitor Reis thumped a header just wide as shell-shocked City tried to climb off the canvas.<\/span><\/p>\n Hazard sprawled to his left to make a fine save from De Bruyne\u2019s low drive.<\/span><\/p>\n O\u2019Reilly dragged City level on the stroke of half-time when the 19-year-old midfielder met De Bruyne\u2019s pinpoint free-kick with a glancing header that Hazard got a hand to but couldn\u2019t keep out.<\/span><\/p>\n Guardiola sent on Erling Haaland in a bid to break the deadlock in the second half, and Foden immediately shot just wide. Hazard made a brilliant save to keep out Haaland\u2019s shot from just two yards, but plucky Plymouth finally succumbed in the 76th minute.<\/span><\/p>\n It was a goal tinged with controversy, as O\u2019Reilly appeared to get away with a push on Plymouth\u2019s Jordan Houghton before burying his header past Hazard from a corner.<\/span><\/p>\n In stoppage time, Haaland\u2019s shot was saved by Hazard, with De Bruyne on hand to complete City\u2019s escape.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Nico O\u2019Reilly spared Manchester City\u2019s blushes as the teenager\u2019s double inspired a comeback 3-1 win over giant-killers Plymouth in the FA Cup fifth round on Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22441,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[4218,1592,10215,10216],"class_list":["post-22440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-fa-cup","tag-man-city","tag-oreilly","tag-plymouth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22440"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22440"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22440\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22442,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22440\/revisions\/22442"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nDe Bruyne\u2019s curler was pushed away for a corner by Hazard and, from the set-piece, Haaland blasted high from six yards.<\/span><\/p>\n