The Daily FitPlay: Health, Sports & Entertainment Insights

Fitness. Sports. Entertainment. All in One Place

McAtee’s hat-trick helps ruthless City through to the Fourth Round

Rachel06 mins


Manchester City dropped into the fourth round of the FA Cup after beating Salford City 8-0 in League Two on Saturday.

Salford-born James McAtee hit a second-half hat-trick in a memorable night for the youngster as Pep Guardiola’s side avoided a major upset at the Etihad.

Strikes from Jeremy Doku and Nico O’Reilly either side of a debut goal from Divin Mubama put City in a dominant position in the first half, while penalties from Jack Grealish and the excellent Doku after the break, as well as McAtee’s goals completed the rout.

The game was given an added layer of flavor by the fact that members of Manchester United’s ‘Class of ’92’ are co-owners of the fourth-tier club. But there was to be no memorable win for the visitors as City dominated from the start.

The impressive scoreline will be a welcome confidence boost for Guardiola and his side, who have made a promising start to 2025 with three consecutive wins.

How the action unfolded

It took less than eight minutes for City to take the lead. Salford lost the ball in midfield, Mateus Nunes fed Jack Grealish who in turn played in Doku who finished into the far corner of the net.

The approximately five thousand traveling fans remained in good voice despite their team falling behind early on and having just 18% possession in the first quarter of an hour.

Kylian Kouassi then hacked the ball home as Nathan Ake’s header was cleared off the line by Jahmai Simpson-Pusey.

Five minutes later, City doubled their lead when 20-year-old debutant Mubama finished off a neat move from the home side.

Savinho’s pass found Nunes, who fed the ball to Mubama for a tap-in.

Quasi then had a save from Ederson after a wild run, but it was the Premier League champions who were in control.

The young Salford forward was at the heart of the action again when a neat move in place culminated in a ball into the box which the 21-year-old had to do better.

The failure ultimately proved costly. Moments later City extended their lead to three when the excellent Doku beat his man before cutting O’Reilly, who swept the ball confidently.

Two minutes after the restart, Salford were the architects of their own downfall when Mubama pounced on captain Curtis Tilt’s loose back-pass from Mubama, who laid the ball back to Grealish.

But before the England international could get his shot away, it fell under Ossama Ashley. Grealish picked himself up and dispatched the next spot for his first of the season and City’s fourth.

McAtee then made it five just after the hour mark, finishing well from Doku’s cross. Doku then helped himself to a second when he turned from the spot after the ball was adjudged to have hit Tilt’s hand.

McAtee added another goal after a fine pass from Phil Foden before completing his hat-trick to heap further misery on the League Two outfit.

Salford had a few half-chances and gave 16-year-old Will Wright a five-minute runout. But City saw out the rest of the match largely untroubled.



Related News