UAE- City down Hull to make League Cup semifinals

Date

12/3/2015 5:08:22 AM

(MENAFN- Khaleej Times)

The plucky underdogs were brought down to earth as Manchester City Everton and Stoke City reached the League Cup semifinals on Tuesday ending the hopes of second-tier sides who felled fancied opponents in the last round.

Manchester City were far short of their finely-tuned best at home to Hull City but still managed a comprehensive 4-1 victory while Everton won 2-0 at Middlesbrough and Stoke beat visitors Sheffield Wednesday by the same scoreline.

Wilfried Bony's 12th-minute goal calmed City's nerves at the Etihad Stadium but resilient Hull defending ensured it stayed close before late efforts from Kelechi Iheanacho and a Kevin De Bruyne double put a more presentable gloss on the scoreline.

Hull who grabbed a late consolation from Andrew Robertson had knocked out surprise Premier League contenders Leicester City in their last League Cup outing and City boss Manuel Pellegrini was not going to take them lightly.

The City side included a number of fresh faces from their league victory over Southampton on Saturday but was still packed full of talent including playmaker David Silva who was making his first start in almost two months following injury.

Things looked bleak for the Championship side when Bony broke the deadlock with only minutes on the clock as De Bruyne's effort struck the post and the Ivorian followed up to finish.

That should have signalled the opening of the floodgates but Hull stubbornly fended off the Premier League leaders and their rearguard were not breached again until the 80th minute.

Raheem Sterling whipped a cross in from the left and Iheanacho tapped in from close range to give City breathing space before De Bruyne grabbed a poacher's goal and wrapped up the tie with a curling free kick from the edge of the box.

"We only had 72 hours to recover (from the 3-1 win over Southampton) so it was a very good answer from all the squad" said City boss Pellegrini whose side are also through to the last 16 of the Champions League.

"The most important thing is to be involved in all the competitions at this stage. We were very solid and we didn't allow chances for Hull to score."

Middlesbrough who knocked out Manchester United in the fourth round saw their luck run out against Everton while Stoke was the end of the road for Arsenal's conquerors Wednesday. - Reuters

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