Catering staff and the number-crunchers at the City of Manchester Stadium whooped in delight, as Manchester City were held to a 1-1 draw at League One's Notts County — a team that should have probably been disposed of at the first time of asking, being 59 places lower in the football league, but *insert obvious reference to The Magic of The FA Cup* etc...
It was Edin Dzeko who scored the equaliser for City, expertly slotting in from six yards from a Maicon Richards cross.
On a pitch scarred by hosting two rugby matches, a U2 concert, and a recreation of the Battle of Passchendaele in the previous week, City struggled to create anything of note. However, a midfield of Jimmy Milner, Gumboots Gaz, and Uncle Pat is generally going to have about same level of creativity as the scriptwriters of Two and a Half Men (This week: Charlie wears a bowling shirt. He runs into an old flame. They sleep together. The dumb fat kid says something dumb. Roll credits. We get it already...)
Unsurprisingly, City looked much better once Jo was replaced by Silva in the second half; although, there are yet-to-be discovered Amazonian tribes that know Asian Dave would be at least "just a slight improvement". With long-term injuries to key players Mario Balotelli and Adam Johnson, uncertainty over the future of Subbeteo Wright-Phillips, Craig Bellamy, and Vladimir Weiss — the lack of a creative outlet apart from Silva or Tevez might present a problem in the coming months.
However, City are still in the hat, and will face Aston Villa at the City of Manchester Stadium should they safely negotiate past County in the replay. Thankfully, Darren "1-0" Bent is cup-tied, and not eligible for the clash.
Elsewhere, Australian Blues were left heart-broken by an extra-time defeat at the hands of Japan in the final of the Asian Cup in everybody's favourite footballing host nation, Qatar. Still, that's one more final of a major international competition than England's reached recently, so every cloud...
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