Manchester City defeated Port Vale 4-1 to advance to the fourth round of the FA Cup at the Etihad on Saturday.
Oleksandr Zinchenko scored his first goal in nearly a year to put City up early — the left-back’s shot from outside of the box taking a deflection off a sliding defender before beating Scott Brown in the Port Vale goal in the 20th minute.
The visitors got back on level terms a quarter-hour later through the outspoken Tom Pope, who beat Taylor Harwood-Bellis to a David Amoo cross from the right and headed home from the middle of the area.
Pope made headlines for his criticism of City and England centre-back John Stones over the summer, when he tweeted that he’d “score 40 a season” if he played against the former Everton man every week.
City survived a VAR review to restore their lead three minutes from the break with a sweeping move that ended with a Sergio Aguero tap-in from a tight angle at the far post after Phil Foden ran in behind the defence down the right.
Aguero did not celebrate in anticipation of a booth review of Foden’s positioning on the play, but the goal stood and City went into half-time back in control of the match.
Harwood-Bellis scored his first senior goal for City in the 58th minute following another VAR review. The centre-back’s heel was found to be inches onside before redirecting a weak Stones shot near the goal line.
Foden added a fourth in the 76th minute when he coolly converted at the near post from an Angelino cross after a wonderful cross-field pass found the left-back behind the defence on the left.