City rescued by old reliable Milner

Manchester City 2 Sheffield Wednesday 1

James Milner, a player who revels in his social media alter ego as a supposedly boring individual, was far from it as his two goals, the second in injury-time, allowed the Premier League champions to avoid embarrassment against their Championship visitors.

Trailing to a stunning opening goal by Adthe Nuhiu, Milner scored his first goals at the Etihad Stadium in over two years to secure a place in the fourth round for the 2011 FA Cup winners.

Milner, a popular figure in the City dressing room and on the Etihad terraces, has developed a cult reputation for possessing a dull personality, a fake “Boring James Milner” twitter account even being created — one which the player himself confesses he finds highly amusing.

But there was little boring about his intervention in a third round tie that, for long periods, appeared to be heading towards an upset and which required City manager Manuel Pellegrini to bring on illustrious substitutes Samir Nasri and David Silva to turn the game on its head.

Within five minutes of their introduction on the hour, the City equaliser featured the two substitutes as Silva steered Nasri’s pass into the path of Milner who guided his shot past Kirkland and into the far corner of the net.

Then, in the first minute of injury-time and with Wednesday dreaming of a lucrative replay at a packed Hillsborough, Milner shattered those dreams, slipping his marker inside the six-yard area to connect with Jesus Navas’s low centre from the by-line and tapping home.

Milner, who turned 29 yesterday, is in the midst of contract talks over an extended deal for when his current terms expire this summer and could not have picked a better stage upon which to rediscover his goal touch.

“There is no news on the contract for the moment,” said a relieved Pellegrini. “But I hope we will find an arrangement.

“I’ve said already what I think about James Milner. He’s a very useful player. I brought him on in our last game as a substitute and I think he made more chances than a lot of players, three or four clear chances. But he always plays at 100% commitment and intensity for the team so I am happy with him.”

Considering the last meeting between the two clubs, as recently as four months ago, ended in a 7-0 Capital One Cup victory for City, it was a fantastic effort by Wednesday who delighted their large contingent of travelling supporters with their 14th- minute opening goal.

“The last time we were here we got beat 7-0,” said manager Stuart Gray. “It was 0-0 at half-time and the second half they went up a gear and put seven past us so it was nice to go in at half-time one-up. We thoroughly deserved it.

“We frustrated them and, in the end, they showed us total respect putting on David Silva, Nasri and Clichy and, in the end, tired minds caught us out. They kept the ball better than us in the last 15 minutes.”

The goal, on the counter-attack, was well worked by Wednesday but exposed glaring deficiencies in the Premier League champions’ defence as Kieran Lee gathered the ball in his own half and sent Stevie May sprinting down the right wing. He was able to pick out the 6’4” forward Nuhiu, unmarked in the area, and the Wednesday target man finished clinically with a first-time shot from 15 yards.

The opener was one for which the entire back four, individually and collectively, could shoulder some responsibility and the worst possible start for a City side coming off the back of unconvincing home performances against Burnley and Sunderland over the holiday period.

Yet, with the Blues enjoying over 70% of the first-half possession, the hosts should have had little trouble recovering from the shock of going behind.

Instead, they failed to land a single on-target strike on Chris Kirkland’s goal with Milner, Frank Lampard, Yaya Toure and Navas all missing from distance and Fernando heading hopelessly wide, unmarked, from a corner.

Goalscorer Nuhiu proved a handful at the start of the second half, setting up half-chances for Claude Dielna and Lee which caused anxiety in the home defence but, aside from Lampard almost turning a Navas cross into the net, City were scarcely improved in attack. The substitutions altered the course of the tie although Navas, of all people, was required to make a superb covering tackle six yards from goal to stop Maghoma in his tracks after another impressive counter-attack and through ball form Jeremy Helan while the scores were level.

However, given City’s strength in depth — and Pellegrini’s willingness to use his bench — that miss was always likely to prove costly. “The FA Cup means a lot for all the English teams,” said the City manager. “It is the most traditional cup, the cup you are only going to play one game each month from now until May, so of course we want to be involved until the last stage.”

MAN CITY (4-2-3-1): Caballero 6; Sagna 5, Boyata 5, Mangala 5, Kolarov 5 (Clichy 74, 7); Toure 7, Fernando 6; Navas 7, Lampard 6 (Silva 60, 8), Milner 9; Jovetic 5 (Nasri 60, 7).

SHEFF WED (4-4-2): Kirkland 7; Palmer 7, Lees 7, Loovens 7, Dielna 9 (McCabe 84); Maghoma 7, Lee 7, Semedo 7, Helan 7 ; May 7 (Lavery 67, 6), Nuhiu 8 (Maguire 74, 6).

Referee: M Oliver 7.