Just as Cheltenham Town of League Two sniffed one of the biggest shocks in FA Cup history, two goals in three minutes turned an exhilarating tie on its head and earned
Manchester City passage to the fifth round. City were made to sweat after a long throw helped Cheltenham take a surprise lead through Alfie May, but late goals by Phil Foden and Gabriel Jesus punctured Cheltenham’s hopes of recording the mother of all upsets before Ferran Torres allowed City to breathe easy in the final seconds.
With seven minutes to play, moments after Foden had equalised by gracefully converting João Cancelo’s perfect cross, it spoke volumes that a pernickety Guardiola was still fretting on the touchline, pedantically arguing that Ben Tozer, the Cheltenham captain who heroically led his team, was trying to steal a few yards before unleashing his not-so-secret weapon: that monstrous and now infamous long throw. The reason Guardiola was ruffled was because Cheltenham had already prospered from it, May scoring after nipping in ahead of Benjamin Mendy, one of 10 City changes.