Leyton Orient v Manchester City (FA Cup 2024–25)

Leyton Orient v Manchester City

Leyton Orient Manchester City 1 2
HT:1–0 Report
Event	2024–25 FA Cup
Date	Saturday 8 February 2025
Venue	Brisbane Road, Leyton, London
Player of the Match	Jamie Donley
Referee	Darren Bond
Attendance	8,749
Weather	5 °C (41 °F)
← Orient - Stockport Man City - Arsenal Orient - Wrexham Man City - Real Madrid →

Leyton Orient v Manchester City was an FA Cup fourth round tie that took place on Saturday 8 February 2025 at Brisbane Road in Leyton, East London, England. The game took place between League One side Leyton Orient and current Premier League champions Manchester City.

Report

Leyton Orient midfielder Jamie Donley entered FA Cup folklore with the outrageous shot that led to the League One side taking a shock lead in their fourth-round match with Manchester City.

City eventually turned the tie on its head in the second half, equalising when Rico Lewis' shot deflected in off new signing Abdoukodir Khusanov before Kevin de Bruyne finished from close range 12 minutes from time.

But all that was a bit of an irrelevance. Nothing was more memorable than the home side's goal.

Twenty-year-old Donley, a dual England and Northern Ireland youth international, hit a shot from fully 50 yards after spotting City keeper Stefan Ortega off his line, with the ball going in off the German as it came crashing down off the crossbar.

The effort drew instant recollections of Ronnie Radford's famous effort for Hereford against Newcastle in 1972.

For a long time, it appeared the goal would have a similarly giant-killing effect as Pep Guardiola's side teetered on the bring of their first FA Cup defeat by a lower league side since 2018.

However, the Leyton Orient fans' 'sacked in the morning' chants were silenced as City levelled before Guardiola reverted to his heavy artillery, bringing on Phil Foden and De Bruyne to ensure his side escaped unscathed as they turn their attentions to Tuesday's Champions League showdown with Real Madrid.

Forget that it will go down as an own goal by virtue of Ortega's desperate attempts to keep the ball out, Donley deserves the wonder goal to be his.

Ortega knew he was in trouble the moment the Tottenham loanee took aim.

The City keeper scrambled back as the ball sailed skywards and stretched as far as he could as it dropped and a spellbound stadium watched on.

He could not know if he had not tried to keep the shot out, it probably would not have gone in. That was an impossible decision to make though - it was far too close for comfort for that. As the ball struck the crossbar and dropped down, Ortega fell, and diverted it in with the top of his thigh.

It was not as clean a goal as Radford's famous effort in the Edgar Street mud but for the way Donley strode on to the loose ball, assessed the situation in an instant and delivered a virtually perfect execution, he deserves just as much credit.

City complained bitterly about the challenge by Sonny Perkins on Nico Gonzalez that created the space. Gonzalez went off almost immediately afterwards - not the way Guardiola's £50m new-boy wanted to make his debut - a legacy of the incident. But with no VAR, as Leicester found to their cost less than 24 hours earlier, there was no review.

It wasn't enough to give the home fans the win they craved, although Jayden Sweeney failed to convert an excellent chance to take the tie into extra time in the final minute. But thanks to Donley, they will never forget this day.

Guardiola does not have long to piece together the lessons learned from this victory before City face Jude Bellingham, Kylian Mbappe and company at Etihad Stadium on Tuesday.

There has to be a major concern over Gonzalez, whose absence would be a huge blow.

The new arrival from Porto looked comfortable sitting in front of the City defence. His early angled pass to Savinho was perfect, and Ilkay Gundogan could have saved a lot of the strife that followed for the visitors if he had finished at the far post as he should have done.

Another new signing, Vitor Reis, failed to make it beyond half-time on his Blues bow, although he is not registered for European competition.

More significant is the fitness of Ruben Dias, who was also replaced at the break on his first game back from injury. Guardiola certainly needs him against Real.

Omar Marmoush was bright but was denied by Josh Keeley's excellent first-half save, while Khusanov, the other part of City's record £180m winter recruitment drive, had a less stressful outing than on his debut against Chelsea a fortnight ago.

He got a pivotal goal too, although the Uzbekistan skipper did appear to be ducking out of the way of Lewis' effort when it struck him.

Guardiola knows far better will be needed if City's European adventure is to extend beyond this month. Gonzalez's fitness may well be key.

Match

Details

8 February 2025 12:15 GMT	Leyton Orient	1–2	Manchester City	Brisbane Road, London Attendance: 8,749 Referee: Darren Bond
	Ortega  16' (o.g.)	HT:1–0 Report	Khusanov  56' De Bruyne  79'

Leyton Orient

Manchester City

24 Josh Keeley 02 Tom James 04 Jack Simpson 05 Dan Happe 12 Jack Currie 22 Ethan Galbraith 86' 08 Jordan Brown 85' 20 Sonny Perkins 65' 17 Jamie Donley 85' 27 Diallang Jaiyesimi 54' 23 Charlie Kelman Substitutes: 03 Jayden Sweeney 06 Brandon Cooper 65' 77' 07 Dan Agyei 85' 15 Dominic Ball 85' 18 Darren Pratley 54' 26 Noah Phillips 29 Zech Obiero 86' 88' 36 Dan Carter 44 Dilan Markanday Head coach: Richie Wellens

18 Stefan Ortega 82 Rico Lewis 22 Vitor Reis 46' 03 Rúben Dias 46' 75 Nico O'Reilly 72' 14 Nico González 22' 19 İlkay Gündoğan 26 Savinho 87 James McAtee 72' 42' 10 Jack Grealish 07 Omar Marmoush Substitutes: 05 John Stones 46' 17 Kevin De Bruyne 72' 20 Bernardo Silva 22' 25 Manuel Akanji 27 Matheus Nunes 33 Scott Carson 45 Abdukodir Khusanov 46' 47 Phil Foden 72' 67 Divin Mubama Manager: Pep Guardiola

See also

• 2024–25 FA Cup

External links

• Live match report at BBC.co.uk

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