Man City, Stoke, Everton down underdogs to make Cup semis

The plucky underdogs were brought down to earth as Manchester City, Everton and Stoke City reached the League Cup semi-finals, ending the hopes of second-tier sides who felled fancied opponents in the last round.

Manchester City were far short of their finely-tuned best at home to Hull City, but still managed a comprehensive 4-1 victory while Everton won 2-0 at Middlesbrough and Stoke beat visitors Sheffield Wednesday by the same scoreline.

Wilfried Bony's 12th-minute goal calmed City's nerves at the Etihad Stadium, but resilient Hull defending ensured it stayed close before late efforts from Kelechi Iheanacho and a Kevin De Bruyne double put a more presentable gloss on the scoreline.

Hull, who grabbed a late consolation from Andrew Robertson, had knocked out surprise Premier League contenders Leicester City in their last League Cup outing and City boss Manuel Pellegrini was not going to take them lightly.

The City side included a number of fresh faces from their league victory over Southampton on Saturday, but was still packed full of talent, including playmaker David Silva who was making his first start in almost two months following injury.

Things looked bleak for the...