NEWPORT ....... 1 MAN CITY ....... 4

good Goldie Lookin Chain got the game off to a bit of a rap start. The pre-match play list over the PA included ‘Living on a Prayer’ and ‘I’m a Believer’.

When it was 0-0 at half-time, the DJ got a little bolder with ‘Under Pressure’ clearly aimed at City’s deadlocked stars. But the dynamic of the game changed in the 51st minute when County keeper Day went all Edward Scissorhands and could only help Leroy Sane’s shot into the net. He made up for it with a couple of decent stops but then put up insufficient resistance when Phil Foden made it 2-0 after a brilliant run from the halfway line.

When Amond poked the ball over Ederson in the 88th minute suddenly there was hope. But only for a minute – or 11 seconds, to be exact – as Foden rifled his second into the roof of the net. Riyad Mahrez finished it off with a fourth and City swept out of town with the warm glow of a tricky job well done.

“It was 2-1 for a moment right near the end,” said Bakinson. “The boys worked their socks off. We’re proud of what we have achieved.

“When we scored, there was a sense of belief because we never give up. “We’ve shown that with our results – especially in the last minute against Middlesbrough.

“But City have so much quality that they quickly killed that off and that was it.”

Pep Guardiola’s Premier League leaders handled themselves magnificently and the City boss found himself strangely endeared to his good-natured terrace tormentors. He said with a grin: “I think I now realise even more about English football. “They were chanting, ‘Who are you? Who are you?’. That was nice.”