Man City 4-1 Port Vale: Aguero & Foden score to send City into FA Cup 4th round

Oleksandr Zinchenko, Sergio Aguero, Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Phil Foden were on target for Man City but Tom Pope had a moment to savour.

Match Report

Port Vale's Tom Pope had the FA Cup impact he promised before holders Manchester City ran out 4-1 winners at the Etihad Stadium.

Pope, whose disparaging Twitter post about City defender John Stones came to light following the third-round draw, nodded in a superb 35th-minute equaliser after Oleksandr Zinchenko's deflected opener.

However, Sergio Aguero ensured the hosts went in ahead at half-time before youngsters Taylor Harwood-Bellis – inadvertently scoring his first senior goal after Stones thought he had City's third – and Phil Foden sealed the Premier League champions' progress.

Nathan Smith scrambled an eighth-minute effort from Foden out of the goalmouth but fellow Vale centre-back Leon Legge was not so effective with his own last-ditch attempt – turning Zinchenko's speculative 20th-minute strike past Scott Brown.

Match Events

8' CLOSE! Foden misses a great chance!

Silva does what he does best and uses his tricky feet and agility to get into the box and cut the ball back for Foden at the edge of the six-yard area, but Smith blocks the shot!

14' AGAIN! Foden misses another good chance!

Silva combines with Bernardo on the left to create space for a cross and he dinks the ball into Foden - who's totally unmarked - but his header isn't strong enough and Brown palms it into the ground.

20' GOAL! Man City 1-0 Port Vale (Zinchenko)

Zinchenko opens the scoring from long range! 

He sees Brown comes off his line, takes a touch and unleashes a fierce shot from outside the box that finds the bottom-right corner. 

It may have taken a touch off a Vale defender on the way in, but only a faint one. No matter, they all count! 

23' How could David Silva miss such a goal??

City go short from the corner and Gundogan does superbly to get into the box for a cross, but Silva hits the bar from roughly three yards out!

Aguero can't get on the follow-up either and Vale's lack of focus goes unpunished this time.

35' GOAL! Man City 1-1 Port Vale (T. Pope)

It's Pope for 1-1! He's on his way to 40 goals! What a header, what a moment for the travelling fans! He gets in front of Harwood-Bellis and stoops low to guide the cross beyond Bravo and into the left of the goal.

42' GOAL! Man City 2-1 Port Vale (Aguero)

Aguero hardly celebrates as he puts City back in front. Excellent football to get in behind their opponents here. 

Silva with the searching pass wide to Foden and he knocks the ball back across goal first-time for Aguero to tap in. 

It's being checked for a potential offside by the VAR, but it stands.

46' Aguero’s shot flies into the sky

Aguero almost makes it 3-1 immediately but he shoots over the bar from an Angelino cutback.

52' CLOSE! Bernardo Silva misses a good chance!

Brown is on the retreat, but still manages to get his fingertips to a Bernardo header to keep it out of his net! 

Aguero creates the chance with his hold-up play to dink a ball into Bernardo, but the midfielder couldn't convert.

58' GOAL! Man City 3-1 Port Vale (Harwood-Bellis)

It's Harwood-Bellis for breathing room! Foden plays the initial pass, Aguero is at the back post to guide it back across goal and Stones sees the loose ball, pounces on it and tucks it beyond Brown, with it taking a touch off the teenager on the way. 

It stands after a VAR check.

76' GOAL! Man City 4-1 Port Vale (Foden)

Foden gets in on the act! He nets his third goal of the season to put City into the fourth round. 

What a pass from Gundogan in the build-up and Angelino hits it across goal first-time for Foden to convert.

Line-ups

Man City XI: David Silva, Aguero, Bravo, Gundogan, Cancelo, Stones, Zinchenko, Bernardo Silva, Angelino, Foden, Harwood-Bellis

Subs: Carson, Walker, Mahrez, Sterling, Jesus, Eric Garcia, T. Doyle

Port Vale XI: D. Worrall, L. Legge, L. Joyce, S. Brown, T. Pope, D. Amoo, C. Montaño, N. Smith, S. Burgess, J. Gibbons, J. Taylor

Subs: W. Atkinson, S. Brisley, M. Cullen, J. Maddison, T. Conlon, R. Browne, R. Bennett