Pep Guardiola’s next transfer priority crystal clear as Man City avoid FA Cup humbling

Manchester City avoided an embarrassing FA Cup exit at the hands of Leyton Orient after Kevin De Bruyne once again showed his importance by scoring the winner in a comeback victory

Sit him down, give him a pen, hand him a new contract and don’t let him leave the room until he’s signed it.

On a grim lunchtime in east London, Kevin De Bruyne sprang from the bench to spare Pep Guardiola’s blushes as Manchester City survived an almighty scare. And if there was any doubt before, there can be none now: De Bruyne’s sorcery is as important to City as Mo Salah’s goals to Liverpool.

For the best part of an hour, City were in danger of suffering another FA Cup embarrassment against League One minnows like their fifth-round upset at Wigan eight years ago. They needed a fluke equaliser before De Bruyne threw off his superhero’s cape and scored the winner to restore the smirk to City superfan Noel Gallagher’s face.

There had not been so much excitement along the Leyton High Road since Jonathan Tehoue’s 89th-minute equaliser against Arsenal in 2011 earned the O’s a fifth round replay and sent former owner Barry Hearn into giddy raptures at the prospect of an extra £1 million in Cup receipts.

And it wasn’t misplaced. Orient were magnificent. For chairman Nigel Travis, once the chief executive of Dunkin’ Donuts in Britain, it was a throwback to a childhood excursion to Maine Road with his father in 1964.

Once they had picked their way on foot through the urban maze of Moss Side, Orient lost 6-0. This time, it was much closer. On City’s first visit to Brisbane Road since 1966 – a celebrated year for English football because they won promotion to the top flight – Richie Welllens’ League One high-flyers were determined to make the most of it.

Before kick-off they paraded Tehoue for an encore, and on the balconies of apartments overlooking the Gaughan Group stadium on all four corners, there was standing room only for freeloaders.

City messiah Guardiola made eight changes but still put out a strong side, including new singings Omar Marmoush, Vitor Reis and Nico Gonzalez. And in cor blimey country, City should have made life easier for themselves inside 10 minutes as Ilkay Gundogan shovelled a simple chance wide from eight yards from Savinho’s bobbling cross.

Orient made Gundogan pay six minutes later with one of the great FA Cup goals to make the windows rattle in those apartments with a privileged view. Spotting Stefan Ortega off his line, Jamie Donley scooped a perfect chip from 50 yards which bounced down off the bar and was bundled over the line by the backpedalling City keeper.

Officially, it was debited an an Ortega own goal, but all the plaudits go to the 20-year-old midfielder on loan from Tottenham. For sheer audacity, Donley deserved all the glory – and the setback came with a sting in the tail for the blessed Pep.

Gonzalez, a £50 million component of City’s £175m January window trolley dash, was injured as City coughed up possession and retired hurt 20 minutes into his debut. In truth, Gonzalez was bundled over by Sonny Perkins in the build-up, and VAR would probably have intervened to spoil our fun.

But in the absence of interfering jobsworths and the bane of football, City’s protests to referee Darren Bond fell on deaf ears. “You’re getting sacked in the morning,” trolled the East end choir as Guardiola – pumped 5-1 on his last visit to the capital six days earlier at Arsenal – bristled on the touchline.

As if to prove he is just as proficient doing the chores as well as celebratory knee-slides, Donley made a crucial goal-line clearance to deny Bernardo Silva an equaliser. Then Josh Keeley, who scored Orient’s last-gasp equaliser against Oldham in the second round, somehow kept out Marmoush’s volley from Savinho’s cross in first-half added time.

And when Orient boss Wellens left his seat in the directors’ box to direct operations at ground level, the home side were daring to dream a miracle was possible. But just when City needed a stroke of luck, outrageous fortune gave Pep a helping hand 11 minutes into the second half.

Keeley had Rico Lewis’s 20-yard shot covered, but it took a massive deflection off Abdukodir Khusanov, who was turning his back, and stranded the Orient keeper. Marmoush felt he should have been awarded a penalty after being wiped out by Jack Simpson, and with good reason, but 11 minutes from time City’s persistence was rewarded.

Jack Grealish spent much off the afternoon turning back into traffic and running up dead ends, but his superb ball through the inside left channel found De Bruyne breaking the thin red line and he teased a neat, dinked finish beyond the gallant Keeley.

If it was a killer blow, Orient – brave, blustering Orient – refused to curl up their toes. They deserved to take a riveting Cup tie to extra times and Dan Happe’s volley narrowly over the top came close to forcing a 30-minute sequel, but De Bruyne’s touch of class proved decisive.

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