With 12 minutes left Giuseppe Sannino was threatening to go down as one of the FA Cups great folk heroes by leading Watford to a classic giant-killing over the billionaires in blue.That was until Sergio Agüero popped up to collect his second of the tie to level the scores at 2-2 ahead of what was to be true heartbreak for the travelling support.With five minutes remaining Aleksandar Kolarov took aim from outside the area and hit the attempt straight at Jonathan Bond, only for the ball to squirm under the goalkeeper and into the net. In that moment the dreams of Watford, a 40-1 shot and 16th in the Championship, were shattered.There was worse to follow for Bond who, deep in added time, flapped at a cross to allow Agüero the finish that secure his hat-trick and score a remarkable 25th goal in 24 appearances.Tempers had been frayed early on when Edin Dzeko squared up to Gabriele Angella and received the contests first yellow card.This occurred as Jesus Navas waited to take a free-kick after Micah Richards had been yanked down. When the Spaniard delivered the ball it amounted to nothing, as would two corners moments later swung in by the same player.It was Angella who upended Richards to give away a further free-kick from which Watford broke and nearly scored. Slick work between Marcos Lopes, Agüero and Navas took the ball to Yaya Touré. But when the Ivorian unloaded his cannon of a right-foot, the rebound allowed the visitors to turn defence into attack. Fernando Forestieri was released into space and ran at the backpedalling Martin Demichelis but when the Argentina-born forward tried to square the ball, it was overhit and Costel Pantilimon gathered.This was about to be proved an unheeded warning as Watford took the lead. Demichelis was again made to look flat-footed when Cristian Battocchio pinged in a pass to Troy Deeley and, as the centre-back went to close the striker down, the latter planted the ball around the corner to put Forestieri through on goal. This time the 24-year-old made no mistake.Demicheliss afternoon was about to get worse. The pony-tailed Argentinians clumsy ball was intercepted by Sean Murray. He found the seemingly omnipresent Forestieri and when the ball was moved on to Ikechi Anya, the Scot buried the chance.The always-calm Manuel Pellegrini surely had a stern word at the break. Despite missing David Silva, Samir Nasri, Alvaro Negredo, Pablo Zabaleta, Vincent Kompany, Joe Hart and Fernandinho from the Chileans strongest XI, there was no excuse for the disjointed display so far.When he sent the team out for the second half Zabaleta and Kompany had replaced Richards and Jack Rodwell, Pellegrini choosing to push Demichelis alongside Touré in central midfield, rather than bringing on Fernandinho, a specialist in the position.Agüeros first goal came when Kolarov drove a cross over from the left, Dzekos stabbed attempt was blocked by Bond, and Citys No16 calmly slotted home.Before the lethal Argentinians intervention this had been written up as a triumph for Sannino, a former toilet cleaner who having not coached at the top level until he was 54 – three years ago – was about to be the man who masterminded the end of Manchester Citys quadruple dream.Instead, he will have a job consoling Bond, who trudged off the turf here looking distraught.FA CupManchester CityWatfordJamie Jacksontheguardian © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Posted on: Sat, 25 Jan 2014 17:39:38 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015