Manchester City will be in the hat for the FA Cup quarter-finals after beating Plymouth Argyle 3-1 in the fifth round.
Manchester City ran out fairly comfortable winners over their Championship opponents in the end at the Etihad Stadium.
It was Plymouth who actually took the lead in the game, with Maksym Talovierov heading in from a corner.
But City hit back through Nico O’Reilly, who featured at left-back as he has done a few times since his promotion to the first-team squad.
He squeezed in a header just before half-time.
O’Reilly would then score his second header of the game in the 76th minute, before Kevin De Bruyne wrapped up the win with City’s third late on.
It was a great night for O’Reilly, who came in for some high praise from his manager after the game.
Pep Guardiola says Nico O’Reilly is ‘completely different’ to other Man City academy products, after Plymouth brace
It was great to see O’Reilly really taking his opportunity on Saturday.
The star is a midfielder by trade but, like several others before him, he operated at left-back and did a great job against Plymouth.
It was important for Josko Gvardiol to get some rest having been used heavily this season, and O’Reilly showed that he could genuinely be a rotation option for that position.
And given the way Guardiola spoke about him last night, we could be seeing a bit more of him this season.
He said on BBC Radio Manchester: “He’s a guy who is completely different to the other #ManCity academy players – all of them are so small, talented, but this guy has a big presence, playing in a position he’s never played in before [left-back].
“He’s so clever with the ball and he’s a guy who in the final third, in the pockets, incredible presence, physicality and his two goals with the header from set-pieces, where normally we are not good…”
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Nico O’Reilly stats vs Plymouth
O’Reilly made his 10 appearances now for City this season, including the Community Shield.
Despite a lack of minutes, he came in against Plymouth and did a sterling job in a somewhat unfamiliar position.
As well as scoring two goals, the star used the ball really well, completing 65/73 (89%) passes.
| Nico O’Reilly vs Plymouth |
| Minutes played – 90+ |
| Goals – 2 |
| Touches – 90 |
| Passes completed – 65/73 (89%) |
| Defensive actions – 1 |
| Duels won – 1/6 (16%) |
He was also pretty heavily involved with 90 touches – only three players had more in the game; Vitor Reis, Kevin De Bruyne and Jack Grealish.
O’Reilly was only successful with one duel out of the six he contested, but the youngster held his own and Plymouth had very little joy out of him all night.
And of course, had it not been for that crucial header on the stroke of half-time, who knows how different the game might have been.
