Hourihane is singled out for praise after Swansea win sets up City tie

FORGOTTEN man Conor Hourihane has Manchester City in his sights after an impressive debut for loan club Swansea City.

The Ireland international started his first game in eight weeks when he was pitched into the Swansea side for Saturday’s FA Cup tie at home to Nottingham Forest. Hourihane showed no signs of rustiness as he delivered a good display in a 5-1 win. Swansea are now due to face Pep Guardiola’s side in the fifth round at home next month.

Hourihane had slipped down the pecking order at Aston Villa, where he is in the last year of his contract. With key World Cup ties to come in March, he was desperate for firstteam football to keep his place in the Ireland set-up.

Swansea boss Steve Cooper heaped praise on the 29-year-old.

“I thought he was excellent. He’s been so impressive from the day he’s come through the door, which wasn’t that long ago,” Cooper said of the Cork native.

“You can see that he’s a real focused professional, an individual that’s not only going to bring what he possesses, but he really wants to buy into what we’re doing as well.

“I thought his composure and quality on the ball is what we want it to be. If that’s the start of things to come, then happy days.”

Impressed

Ireland’s Ryan Manning also impressed for Swansea, claiming an assist in the victory.

Meanwhile, Troy Parrott’s hopes of a cup run with Millwall ended in a 3-0 defeat at home to Bristol City.

The 18-year-old is still awaiting his first goal for Millwall after 14 appearances in a spell on loan from Tottenham. He was replaced after an hour against Bristol City.

Millwall boss Gary Rowett said: “We got into some positions where we needed to do better. It’s probably been the story of our season, the creativity in the final third.”

Elsewhere, West Ham hope to have Darren Randolph back in the squad for the next round of the FA Cup after injury denied the Wicklow native an outing on Saturday.

Randolph was in line to play for the Hammers in their FA Cup meeting with Doncaster Rovers, as first-choice custodian Lukasz Fabianski is rested for cup ties. However, the Ireland international suffered an injury in training and Fabianski got the nod to start, with young keeper Nathan Trott given a runout as a late sub in the 4-0 win.

The Hammers also plan to add Dubliner Mipo Odubeko back to their squad this week after a false positive test for Covid-19 last week denied him the chance to play a part against Doncaster.

Odubeko (18) made his debut for West Ham in the win over Stockport County in the previous round.