Orient give Man City tougher game than Real Madrid will but De Bruyne quality denies FA Cup upset

Days before facing Real Madrid in the Champions League, Manchester City had an over-achieving Leyton Orient side to overcome and they were given an almighty scare on what nearly became one of the greatest upsets in FA Cup history.

We saw one of the most extraordinary goals of the season, the Premier League champions being rattled and modern, tidy football mixed with the FA Cup grit we all know and love from the League One side on a memorable afternoon at Brisbane Road.

For a while there, we really thought Leyton Orient would do it. Every single one of their players put everything into that match and it was not running out of energy that ultimately lost them the match, but a slice of luck the other way and Man City’s world-class individual ability shining through.

Jamie Donley’s goal – and we are calling it Jamie Donley’s goal, so back off – will go down as an all-timer in the FA Cup. Nico Gonzalez was knocked off balance too easily and the Tottenham loanee latched on to the loose ball to chip Stefan Ortega from 50 yards out. The ball struck the underside of the bar, bounced on the line and then off Ortega to officially go down as an own goal, which is very upsetting from a personal standpoint.

Orient took an unforeseen lead into the break after an impressive first half. The 11 players in red gave absolutely everything, which was a trend that had to continue until the last kick of the match.

It might be a cliché, but Wellens’ men were winning every single second ball and 50/50, with too many Man City players looking like they wanted to be anywhere but Brisbane Road. Pep Guardiola made a couple of risky calls in his starting XI, throwing in centre-back Vitor Reis and deadline day midfield signing Nico Gonzalez for their debuts.

Reis looked a bag of nerves before kick-off and Gonzalez just looked absolutely freezing, coming off injured in the 22nd minute after failing to recover from a challenge in the build up to the goal. He felt he was fouled but we are not having it – had the referee given that, it would have been very soft.

Throwing these guys in for a debut at Leyton Orient makes sense considering the gulf in class between the two sides but there was huge potential for it to be a very uncomfortable afternoon and a rude awakening for both players, which it turned out to be.

Guardiola would take Reis off at half-time for John Stones, while another January signing Abdukodir Khusanov came on for captain Ruben Dias on his 200th appearance for the club.

There were no doubts about how the second period would transpire, with some Orient luck required but plenty of never-say-die defending to go along with it. Home players were getting their body on the line, doing everything to thwart any City attempt on goal, which certainly applies to FA Cup hero Josh Keeley in goal.

Unfortunately for Orient and every neutral football fan, their luck ran out in the 55th minute, with City cashing in their own huge slice of fortune to equalise. The visitors took a corner quickly after another Keeley save v Omar Marmoush and a Rico Lewis shot from outside the box struck Khusanov to give the Tottenham loanee in between the sticks no chance. It really was the worst kind of goal Pep Guardiola’s side could have scored.

Orient did react well instead of feeling sorry for themselves as they did not stray from the game plan, with a flat but high back five and a willingness to keep the ball on the ground and get at the vulnerable Khusanov.

While the League One side were prepared to play football, there signs of an underdog mentality with long throws into the box and the sort of physicality you would expect in this fixture. Wellens wants his teams to play football and build from the back and there was certainly an element of that, even at 1-0 up, which has to be admired.

While Wellens had a 39-year-old Darren Pratley to call upon from the bench, Man City had Kevin De Bruyne and Phil Foden. Both entered the pitch after 72 minutes and six minutes later De Bruyne put the visitors ahead. Ugh.

It was a fantastic Jack Grealish assist and a cute touch past an onrushing Keeley to calm everyone of a City orientation down.

Wellens had a few late throws of the dice in the closing stages, making a triple change in an attempt to snatch an unlikely equaliser. It was not to be as City avoided an upset to progress to the fifth round of the FA Cup, though they were very lucky that a huge chance at the end fell to centre-back Dan Happe as Orient fought until the very end.

Wellens said this week that he would rather beat Mansfield Town in League One on Tuesday than Man City on Saturday and while that was probably a white lie, their attention turns to that fixture while City’s turns to Real bloody Madrid in the Champions League.

That’s what we are dealing with at the end of the day and Orient will be gargantuanly proud of their performance and coming so close to getting a result having led for 40 minutes.

There are no doubts they will be gutted but that was a seriously impressive performance and one Orient won’t look back on with regret, but with immense pride, which is a good representation of their season as a whole; hopefully it ends on a more positive note for them.

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