City, Stoke, Everton down plucky underdogs

The plucky underdogs were brought down to earth as Manchester City, Everton and Stoke City reached the League Cup semi-finals on Tuesday, ending the hopes of secondtier sides who felled fancied opponents in the last round.

Manchester City were far short of their finely-tuned best at home to Hull City, but still managed a comprehensive 4-1 victory while Everton won 2-0 at Middlesbrough and Stoke beat visitors Sheffield Wednesday by the same scoreline.

Wilfried Bony’s 12th-minute goal calmed City’s nerves, but resilient Hull defending ensured it stayed close before late efforts from Kelechi Iheanacho and a Kevin De Bruyne double put a more presentable gloss on the scoreline.

Middlesbrough saw their luck run out against Everton while Stoke was the end of the road for Arsenal’s conquerors Wednesday.

Everton went in front courtesy of Gerard Deulofeu after 20 minutes. He then set up striker Romelu Lukaku eight minutes later with a delightful cross.

Wednesday made the biggest splash in the previous round but any hope of a repeat at the Britannia Stadium looked faint when Ebrahim Afellay volleyed into the corner on the halfhour for his first Stoke goal.

The tie was wrapped up with 15 minutes to play when Phil Bardsley smashed home a low free kick with Stoke reaching their first League Cup semi-final since they won the trophy in 1972.