Match report as Man City progressed to the last-eight of the FA Cup with a 2-0 win at Peterborough; Hosts restricted City in the first half but second-half strikes from Riyad Mahrez and Jack Grealish sealed victory; Win sees City take their place in Thursday's quarter-final draw
Wednesday 2 March 2022 06:08, UK
Oleksandr Zinchenko captained Manchester City to a 2-0 victory at Peterborough to reach the quarter-finals of the FA Cup.
City handed the armband to the defender in a show of support for his home nation of Ukraine and before kick-off, he and Peterborough captain Frankie Kent held a Ukraine flag as they led the two teams out at the Weston Homes Stadium.
Our captain [Fernandinho] decided to give the armband to him, to show how important the situation is. We are all at the club behind this gesture and behind my captain, who represents his country.
Peterborough proved a tough nut to crack in the first half for the Premier League leaders. Ilkay Gundogan curled a strike beyond the dive of Steven Benda but wide of the far post, while the German midfielder also headed Riyad Mahrez's cross well wide from eight yards as the Championship strugglers held firm.
After the break, Peterborough started strongly as Sammie Szmodics fired wide with the Man City goal at his mercy before Phil Foden intervened with a superb last-ditch tackle to take the ball off Jorge Grant's toes just as he was about to get a shot away from inside the City penalty area.
However, City's quality eventually took over. Mahrez would finally break the deadlock with a low trademark left-footed strike, which was City's first attempt on target.
City remained on top after taking the lead and the in-form Algeria international missed a good chance to double the lead minutes later but it would be Jack Grealish who finished off the tie.
Foden's inch-perfect ball over the top released his England team-mate, whose superb first touch took him in on goal and he scored his first FA Cup goal
Peterborough rallied momentarily and substitute Jack Marriott teed himself up to thump a shot at Ederson with his first contribution off the hosts' bench, but it was six-time FA Cup winners City who carry on in this season's competition on a special night during difficult times for Zinchenko.
Zinchenko was handed the honour of leading City by Fernandinho as a show of support against Russia's invasion of his homeland.
Zinchenko was shown crying at the support shown to Ukraine ahead of Saturday's league win at Everton, where he was an unused substitute, but here he played the full 90 minutes as skipper and his name was cheered by all four corners of the Weston Homes Stadium.
On the support for Zinchenko, England midfielder Jack Grealish told ITV Sport: "It has been quite emotional.
"He is such a big character in the squad and has unbelievable quality. He is so under rated as a player.
"We have had to be there for him. It has been an extremely difficult time for him and for everyone associated with Ukraine. But fair play to him, he came out and captained the side. I think he did brilliant."
Meanwhile, Man City boss Pep Guardiola paid tribute to the well wishes shown for Zinchenko, saying: "He got not just [support from our fans], but all around the world, the UK, about this insane situation we are living in right now."
Roy Keane to ITV Sport:
"We saw Jack Grealish kick on in the second half. It was a brilliant run and the first touch set him up for the goal.
"He's talking about where he needs to improve, and it is his end product. You do want more goals and more assists from him, but his goal was the highlight of the game.
"The biggest lift Grealish will get will be from scoring. He said he spoke to the manager about his general play being good, but it is about having an effect on the game, and we saw that with the bit of quality for the goal.
"Jack is a good link-up player, but sometimes that is easy to defend. Sometimes it is just about making that run, having the desire and the intelligence to make that run because you know the players you are playing with will pick you out.
"The goal will do Jack the world of good."
Peterborough boss Grant McCann, who only took the job last week following the departure of Darren Ferguson, hailed the efforts of his side.
"I am really proud of the performance," he said. "We knew we had to be good defensively and have a real good structure.
"We also had some really good moves in transition and had a massive chance in the early part of the second half to maybe go 1-0 up and on another day we do. But when you play against a top-class team and top-class manager, they keep probing and probing and got the goals.
"I have said to the boys that this is the benchmark. We have only been in here four or five days to work with the players, but they have shown the work-rate and energy they can play with.
"There is a lot of quality in the dressing room and it is up to myself and the coaching staff to get it out of them on a more regular basis."
Peterborough will return to Championship action on Friday March 4 at 7.45pm as they travel to Huddersfield.
Manchester City's next game will see them take on inter-city rivals Manchester United in the Premier League on Sunday March 6 at 4.30pm, live on Sky Sports.
The draw for the FA Cup quarter-finals will take place on Thursday just before Everton vs Boreham Wood, which kicks-off at 8.15pm, with the draw being conducted by England manager Gareth Southgate at Wembley.
