Manchester City reached the fifth round of the FA Cup with a far-from-convincing 2-0 win over League Two Salford at the Etihad Stadium, a result that booked their place in Monday's draw but did little to lift the mood of a manager who described the afternoon as 'boring'.
An early Alfie Dorrington own goal and a late close-range strike from substitute Marc Guehi were enough for the seven-time winners, who made nine changes from their previous outing and were unable to recreate anything like the 8-0 thrashing they had inflicted on the same opponents in the third round 13 months earlier.
Dorrington own goal sets a misleading tone
Six minutes were enough for Rayan Ait-Nouri to force the breakthrough. Tijjani Reijnders fed the left-back along his flank and the whipped-in cross was turned past goalkeeper Matthew Young by Dorrington, the on-loan Tottenham centre-back, for an own goal that suggested City might run riot.