Half-time reading

Half time: Manchester City – Salford City 3-0

45 mins Three minutes of injury time.

GOAL! Man City 3-0 Salford (44. O’Reilly)

41st minute: Big chance for Salford! Lund is fouled by Grealish 25 meters from the goal. The free kick is taken quite far left of center, probably too far for a shot. Garbutt plays the ball briefly to Adelakun, who circles a beautiful cross into the six-yard box. Kouassi sees it late and miscontrols the ball in front of the goal.

Moments later, Berkoe shot wide from Lund’s free kick. The first chance was the big one.

40 mins Savinho goes past Garbutt and then goes over. It looked like a free kick, but the referee thought otherwise.

39 mins And now Savinho rolls forward from the edge of the D after being pitched by McAtee.

38 mins Mnoga blocks a sharp shot from Doku, who is a regular threat on the left side of town.

36 mins “Apparently City have been linked with Matty Young and could be interested in buying him from Sunderland,” says Matt Dony. “I think they should look further forward in Salford’s team. One rush and one push and Lund is theirs.”

Was MAKE IT STOP a Smiths song?

35 mins This is certainly Salford’s best performance of the game. Kouassi slaloms elegantly from the parking lot into the penalty area and shoots a low shot, which is confidently parried by the jumping Ederson. The better option might have been to find Mnoga to his right.

32 mins Salford had slightly more possession in the final five minutes, albeit mostly in the middle third of the pitch.

30 mins Doku moves into the box and prepares to shoot when Lund makes an important tackle.

27 mins “Well, that’s probably it, isn’t it?” says Charles Antaki, although it’s not clear whether he’s talking about this game or planet Earth. “The mind wanders to other things – is it just the Etihad that has that double row of neon signs around the pitch?” I suppose it speaks to the ingenuity of the marketing people who have managed to push even more advertising space into our eyes . Ultimately it will be a one-way glass wall of advertising that extends to the roof and allows the crowd behind it to see through from the other side.”

26 mins The player takes a break while Salford goalkeeper Matty Young receives treatment.

24 mins This will be a pleasant evening for Manchester City. Salford will be frustrated because they can’t hold onto the ball – I think they had less than 20 percent possession.

21 mins Liam Shephard was booked straight after the goal. He took out Jeremy Doku two or three minutes earlier but the ball only went dead when City scored.

That was a nice team goal. Savinho directed a lovely pass behind the defense to the outmatched Nunes, who pulled Young towards him and squared the ball to give Mubama an open goal.

GOAL! Man City 2-0 Salford (Mubama 20)

17 mins The resulting corner is headed back over the goal by Ake and deflected off the line by Kouassi. Simpson-Pusey headed into the air before the ball reached Kouassi; If he had made contact, he would have scored.

16 mins Grealish turns cleverly, moves to the edge of the box and hits a shot which is well blocked by Garbutt.

15 mins “Someone had to do it,” reads the slightly ominous subject of Matt Dony’s email. “I was looking forward to an unpleasant game for Man City and of course hoping for a surprise. But it looks like it’s going to be a really pleasant evening. Heaven knows I feel bad now.”

13 mins Grealish plays more centrally and has a lot of ball possession. Just like Doku, who moves in from the left and fires a blast from 25 meters. He pulls it past the near post.

10 mins O’Reilly’s cross is deflected by Garbett off Mubama’s head but circles over the far post towards Savinho. His volley is deflected into the side netting and the inconspicuous referee mistakenly gives a goal kick.

9 mins At the other end, Matty Lund heads a cross from Garbutt onto the roof of the net. Good effort.

GOAL! Man City – Salford City 1-0 (Documentary 8)

6 mins Grealish’s corner is headed by Tilt at the near post.

6 mins Doku blasts down the left wing and wins the first corner of the game.

4 mins Simpson-Pusey is flattened near the halfway line, but the referee takes advantage. Finally, O’Reilly shoots wide of the goal from 25 meters.

2 mins This is the rough city formation.

Manchester City (4-3-3) Ederson; Nunes, Simpson-Pusey, Ake, O’Reilly; McAtee, Gundogan, Grealish; Savinho, Mubama, documentary.

1 minute Look, look! Manchester City competes from left to right before our eyes. It looks like Matheus Nunes will start at right-back, Nico O’Reilly at left-back.

A reminder to the teams as they enter the field. Basically, nobody has any idea how Manchester City will line up.

Manchester City (4-3-3 possible) Ederson; Nunes, O’Reilly, Simpson-Pusey, Ake; McAtee, Gundogan, Grealish; Savinho, Mubama, documentary.
Substitutes: Akanji, De Bruyne, Foden, Gvardiol, Haaland, Kovacic, Lewis, Ortega, Bernardo Silva.

Salford City (possible 3-1-4-2) Young; Shephard, Tilt, Garbutt; Ashley; Mnoga, Lund, Fornah, Berkoe; Adelakun, Kouassi.
Substitutes: Chester, Heys, Jones, Malcolm, McAleny, Stockton, Taylor, Watson, Wright.

“Hello Rob,” says Peter Oh. “With a tilt in central defense we will certainly see plenty of pinball action in the Salford six-yard area.”

“That’s why the FA Cup is great” writes Mary Waltz. “Hell-bound Plymouth rising from the dead and shocking a Premier League team. I know that Plymouth won’t go far in this tournament, that a PL team will win the cup. But to see David upset a Goliath is great.”

It will never get old.

Forget the game, there is no need for football. The BBC coverage has just begun with a poem by Salford’s finest John Cooper Clarke and that’s all the entertainment we need for tonight.

There is no VAR and no replays in the third round of the FA Cup. If necessary, tonight’s game can go to overtime and a penalty shootout.

“Evening,” says Damian Clarke. “Any news from Johnny Marr? Assuming he’s a City fan, but much of the world only knows Salford because of an album cover?”

Normally he doesn’t email the MBM until the game is running. But since you mentioned “The Queen Is Dead,” let’s listen to some music to get us in the mood.

The first big shock of the FA Cup third round took place this afternoon at the Gtech Community Stadium. Jonathan Wilson was there for us.

Pep’s rebuilding starts here

Team news

Read the preview by Will Unwin

Salford are in third place in League Two and there is growing optimism that they could exit through the ceiling rather than the floor. Robinson is doing an impressive job with the players at his disposal and the academy is starting to produce players who are showing signs of an upward trajectory. The former Oxford manager backed the owners after meeting with them to discuss the job just over a year ago. He was so confident that he didn’t sign a contract for the first seven games of his tenure, and he was able to further retaliate against their decision to hire him by attracting funding to boost their ambitions.

preamble