Manchester City on Wednesday recovered from an early blip to rout Championship side Huddersfield Town 5-1 in their FA Cup fifth round replay at the Etihad Stadium, booking quarterfinal date with Middlesborough in the process.

After a drab goalless draw had been played out at the John Smith’s Stadium, the replay at the Etihad had promised goals and it delivered, much to the delight of Sky Blues support.

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Manager Pep Guardiola was keen to avoid an embarrassing upset, sending out a strong starting XI which had young Aleix Garcia as the only unfamiliar player in the line up.

City should have scored the opener early on, but Leroy Sane’s thundering cross was touched onto the post by Raheem Sterling to give the visitors a reprieve. And they took full advantage of that when Harry Bunn finished between Claudio Bravo’s legs after a rapid Huddersfield counter attack had left City reeling. 

While Guardiola’s strategy of playing Bravo in cup ties is admirable, this was another goal which perhaps Willy Caballero could have saved had he been in the starting XI. The Spanish manager has a pretty straightforward choice since Caballero is clearly the better keeper of the two, but his strange policy is clearly hurting City at the moment.

From that moment on, it was all one-way traffic in the expensively-assembled Manchester City’s favour, as they looked to get back among the goals as quickly as possible.

Fernando and Kevin De Bruyne went close, but were denied by some last-ditch defending but a City goal felt inevitable considering the intense pressure they were applying.

It was Sane who opened City’s account on the night, arriving at the right time to turn in Sterling’s cross from close range in the 30th minute. And City took the lead for the first time in the tie when Sergio Aguero emphatically dispatched a penalty five minutes later. Nicolas Otamendi was the recipient of some rough treatment by Jon Stankovic and match official Paul Tierney pointed to the spot after a second’s hesitation.

Aguero could have had a second minutes after his first but while his low shot in a one-on-one with Joel Coleman had the Huddersfield keeper beat, it grazed the post to deny the prolific striker.

Aguero then turned provider for City’s third goal, laying it off for his fellow Argentine Pablo Zabelta in the 38th minute. The striker’s booming shot came back to him and he chose to pass to the veteran full-back as the home side went in to the interval firmly in the driver’s seat.

Huddersfield had the first major chance of the second half, with Joe Lolley heading just wide after finding himself unmarked in the City box, with the home side looking a little sluggish in the opening exchanges.

However, City then made sure of the result when Aguero’s first-touch finish off Sterling’s cross in flew past Coleman in the 73rd minute to quell any hopes of a Huddersfield comeback.

Substitute striker Kelechi Iheanacho then added gloss to the scoreline in the 91st minute, his deft touch on a Jesus Navas cross deceiving Coleman.

City travel to Middlesborough on the 11th of March for a quarterfinal tie and Guardiola has an excellent chance of winning a trophy in his maiden season in charge of the cash-rich club.