Man City oust Swindon

Wanchope was a handful for the Swindon defence

Manchester City 2-0 Swindon Town
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Swindon old-boy Kevin Horlock applied the killer blow against his former club as unimpressive Manchester City booked their fourth round place in the FA Cup.

City were holding a slender one-goal lead mid-way through the second half when Horlock showed Swindon no favours by scoring the decisive second goal.

Swindon, mid-table in the Second Division, gave a creditable account of themselves against the First Division leaders, but never threatened to cause a cup upset.

Apart from putting goals on the end of it, some of our football was excellent

Man City boss Kevin Keegan

They did not manage a single shot on target in the entire 90 minutes, though dogged defending restricted City to few goalscoring chances.

When City took an eighth-minute lead through Paulo Wanchope it looked as though victory would be a formality.

The Costa Rican striker headed home his 10th goal of an injury interrupted season from inside the six yard box.

Show-boating

Eyal Berkovic seized on a poor defensive header from Matthew Heywood and centred from the right of the penalty area for Wanchope to score.

City started show-boating and playing as though victory was already in the bag, something which could have been dangerous with only a one-goal advantage.

It was not until late in the first half that City regained urgency with Ali Benarbia and Darren Huckerby forcing Swindon goalkeeper Bart Griemink to make super saves.

A disappointing second half followed a similar pattern with City in command without ever looking like scoring a second.

City's early goal was a turning point but fortunately it was not a landslide defeat

Swindon bossr Andy King

But Horlock finally made the game safe in the 63rd minute with an excellently placed shot from the left of the penalty area low to the left of Griemink after neat build-up involving Benarbia and Berkovic.

And right at the death Huckerby came within a lick of paint of adding a third goal following a break-away on the left.

The striker cut in and watched in disbelief as his shot beat Griemink but came out after hitting the far upright.

City may have paid a heavy price for their victory, however, as they lost defender Richard Edghill in the first half with a hamstring strain while in the dying seconds Shaun Wright-Phillips limped out of the game with a leg injury.

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Man City: Nash, Edghill (Pearce 38), Ritchie, Howey, Dunne, Berkovic (Haaland 77), Horlock, Benarbia, Wright-Phillips, Huckerby, Wanchope (Goater 78).

Subs Not Used: Weaver, Negouai.

Booked: Berkovic.

Swindon: Griemink, Reeves, Heywood, Steve Robinson, Gurney, Invincibile, Howe (Grazioli 77), McAreavey (Davis 64), Carlisle, Duke, Sabin.

Subs Not Used: McKinney, Brayley, Mark Robinson. Booked: Carlisle, Grazioli.

Attendance: 21,581

Referee: C Foy