At Lunchtime on Saturday, Josh Keeley, Jamie Donley, and their Leyton Orient side welcomed Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, in the fourth round of the FA Cup. Both Spurs loanees were named in the starting XI by manger Richie Wellens.
It was a good start for the O’s, who managed to work the ball into the box a few times in the opening five minutes, whilst maintaining a solid defensive shape. After 10 minutes, they were opened up for a first time, but Ilkay Gundogan fluffed his lines from a few yards.
After 14 minutes, Orient went so close to taking the lead, but striker Charlie Kelman couldn’t quite keep the ball under control as he got his shot off, and Stefan Ortega was able to save his shot from a tight angle.
Then, after 16 minutes – they did take the lead. Incredibly, Donley struck the ball from around five yards into the City half, cannoning off the crossbar and off of Ortega into the net. It was unfortunately an own goal and not his goal, but it came from his magic nevertheless.
After 31 minutes, Keeley made his first save of the game, saving from a Ruben Dias header following a set piece. Immediately after, the keeper threw the ball out of play in order to get treatment for an injury, though he was okay to carry on.
Josh Keeley and Jamie Donley impress against Manchester City in FA Cup
Five or so minutes later, Bernardo Silva had an effort from close range that had beaten Keeley, but there was Donley to make a crucial and impressive goal line clearance to keep the score at 1-0.
With four minutes of the first half remaining, Orient once again managed to get in behind City down the channels, with a cutback being fired not too far over the crossbar on this occasion.
Three minutes into stoppage time, Omar Marmoush had a very good chance from close range, but his volley was expertly saved by Keeley, with his foot and then his hand. Sublime goalkeeping. That would be that for the first half, with the O’s having a 1-0 lead.
Ten minutes into the second half, Marmoush had another big chance, but Keeley was there to deny him again. Unfortunately, from the following set piece, a heavily deflected Rico Lewis went into the back of the net. Very unlucky for Orient.
63 minutes in, a low curling effort from Gundogan in the D was deflected towards the bottom corner, with Keeley making yet another excellent save.
With 12 minutes remaining, a deft touch from substitute Kevin De Bruyne was enough to poke the ball past Keeley and give City the lead. 50 million pound player scores from an assist from a 100m pound player. That’s what was needed to get ahead of Orient.
On around 85 minutes, Donley was taken off. An impressive performance against the champions of England, live on the BBC. Despite the result, he can be more than happy with that.
As the clock hit 90 minutes, Keeley went up for a free kick – hoping to repeat his heroics from the second round. From the delivery, Orient captain Daniel Happe fired over the bar from six yards out. Huge opportunity.