FA CUP SORCERERS

ranks lined up midway inside their own half in an attempt to suffocate City.

They made no attempt to press City, leaving the visitors to dominate possession. The Owls rarely threatened playing so deep, although Jacob Murphy, just about their only attacking outlet, did cut inside Benjamin Mendy to curl a left-footed shot just wide of the far post.

City were wasteful and Gabriel Jesus headed wide from inside the six-yard box from John Stones’ dinked cross to the back post and Riyad Mahrez blazed over from Liam Palmer’s poor clearance.

Jesus was guilty of another miss when Aguero picked him out on the right with a floated cross, only for the Brazilian to fail to connect. City adjusted their sights and were centimetres away from opening the scoring when Otamendi beat Julian Borner to head against the face of the bar.

City continued to attack in waves and Wildsmith saved from Aguero, touched Mendy’s drive against the bar and denied Bernardo Silva.

But the Owls keeper went from hero to zero and he was badly at fault when City grabbed their 53rd-minute winner. Mendy fed Aguero, who turned Dominic Iorfa and hit a shot which Wildsmith could only parry into his own net with his left hand. VAR might have disallowed the goal for a hairline offside decision against Aguero, but the technology was not available last night.

Monk threw on his top scorer Fletcher, but City retained their grip on the game and Wildsmith made a fine double save from Stones and Rodri.

The Owls belatedly went for it in the final 10 minutes and Fletcher just failed to get on the end of fellow substitute Alex Hunt’s cross.

But it was too little, too late as City’s cup juggernaut rolls on and on.

Sergio Aguero fires home the City winner, helped by a fumble from luckless Joe Wildsmith