Zabaleta strike puts City through

Manchester City's Pablo Zabaleta (right) celebrates with his teammates scoring the winner against Stoke.

Manchester City's Pablo Zabaleta (right) celebrates with his teammates scoring the winner against Stoke.

Published Jan 26, 2013

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London – Manchester City booked their place in the fifth round of the FA Cup as Pablo Zabaleta scored a late winner with a neat finish to beat an organised Stoke City 1-0 on Saturday.

City enjoyed the majority of the possession and created the best opportunities but could not find a chink in the home team's armour until the 85th minute when Zabaleta arrived late in the area to poke home at the far post.

City, who beat Stoke by the same scoreline in the 2011 Cup final, had begun brightly with David Silva hitting the crossbar with a curling effort in the first half while Stoke's Ryan Shawcross put the ball in the net but his goal was ruled out for offside.

The hosts were lucky not to be reduced to 10 men when Glenn Whelan jumped in two-footed on Javi Garcia two minutes into the second half, but the midfielder escaped without even a caution. – Reuters

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