City beat Leicester to reach FA Cup quarter-finals | OneFootball

Manchester City swept aside Leicester 3-1 to earn our ticket to the quarter-final stage of the Women’s FA Cup at the Joie Stadium.

Leila Ouahabi broke the deadlock inside 18 minutes, with Kerolin Nicoli's first goal for the Club seeing us take a two-goal lead in at the break.

Half-time substitute Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw powered the Blues further ahead with an unstoppable header, with Nelly Las adding a late consolation eight minutes from time.

The win means City go into the hat for the last eight draw on Tuesday evening and round off a busy week with another important win.

WHAT HAPPENED

After progressing to the League Cup final in midweek, Gareth Taylor’s side were aiming to reach the quarter-final of the FA Cup less than 72 hours after beating Arsenal.

City kicked off with attacking intent, as we looked to threaten the visitors from wide positions, but Leicester’s Icelandic striker Hlin Eiriksdottir and Hannah Cain squandered the first two real sights of goal at the Joie Stadium.

Kerolin Nicoli went close for City moments later though after Jill Roord cushioned the ball into her path, but the Brazilian fired over the bar.

Our pressure soon paid off though, with Kerolin, Roord and Mary Fowler all seeing attempts blocked before the ball fell to Ouahabi.

The defender composed herself and tapped into the bottom left corner from inside the box, to score just her second goal in City blue.

Kerolin, who had headed wide minutes earlier, was a thorn in the Leicester City defence and deservedly scored her first goal for City before the half hour mark.

She dribbled down the left after receiving the ball from Jess Park, and her deflected shot looped over the Leicester keeper, Olivia Clark, and into the net to double our advantage.

There was a hint of fortune in the goal, but it was just rewards for her lively start to the game, and our January signing nearly had a second in a matter of minutes.

Roord switched the ball out wide to Kerolin whose powerful drive was palmed onto the post by Clark.

Ouahabi and Aoba Fujino had chances saved by Clark to end a dominant half for City, with Gareth Taylor making four changes at the break to keep up the pressure on Leicester.

And Shaw, one of those substitutes, only took 15 minutes to get her name on the scoresheet.

Fujino was the architect again, taking the ball to the byline before clipping the ball into the Jamaican, who rose highest to power a header into the net to extend City’s foothold in the match.

The Blues were hitting our stride, with Lily Murphy curling a shot narrowly wide of the bottom corner soon after.

But Leicester would to get on the scoresheet as Ruby Mace played a ball through to Las on the counter, who struck across Yamashita to give the visitors hope.

Despite some late pressure from the visitors, City held firm to progress in the FA Cup.

PLAYER OF THE MATCH: Aoba Fujino

The Japanese winger put in a solid 90 minute display in our victory against Leicester, as she linked up seamlessly with her City team-mates to create chances from out wide.

She was key to the opener and then provided the pinpoint cross for Shaw to pounce upon in the box.

HOW WE LINED UP

Gareth Taylor made two changes to the side that defeated Arsenal in midweek.

Ayaka Yamashita started in goal, and was protected by a back four of Kerstin Casparij, Rebecca Knaak, Laia Aleixandri, and Leila Ouahabi.

Yui Hasegawa shielded the defence, with Jill Roord and Jess Park, who returned to the starting to lineup, playing further forward in the engine room.

In-form Mary Fowler retained her place up front, with Aoba Fujino and Kerolin Nicoli supporting her on the flanks.

CITY XI | Yamashita, Casparij (46’ Layzell), Aleixandri (C) (75’ Wienroither), Knaak, Ouahabi, Park, Hasegawa, Roord (46’ Blindkilde Brown), Fujino, Fowler (46’ Shaw), Kerolin (46’ Murphy)

Unused substitutions | Keating, Miedema, Prior, Oyama

LEICESTER XI | Clark, Nevin, Tierney (C) (76’ Sherwood), Ale, Eiriksdottir (56’ Goodwin), Cain (56’ Las), Kees, Chossenotte (64’ Kaczmar), Momiki (64’ Cayman), Mace, Swaby

Unused substitutions | Leitzig, Bott, Howard, Thibaud

WHAT IT MEANS

Victory in the fifth round against Leicester City sees us progress to the quarter finals of the Women’s FA Cup.

The draw for the next round will take place on Tuesday 11 February.

WHAT’S NEXT

Gareth Taylor’s side are back in Barclay’s Women’s Super League action next Sunday as we play host to Liverpool at the Joie Stadium on Sunday 16 February with kick-off at 18:45pm (UK).

GET YOUR TICKETS | CITY v LIverpool

The match will be available to watch live on Sky Sports Football for UK viewers, and comprehensive coverage will be provided on the Man City App.