Man City 4 Port Vale 1: Harwood-Bellis scores first senior goal as youthful XI battles past League Two minnows
TAYLOR HARWOOD-BELLIS scored his first senior goal for Manchester City as Pep Guardiola’s side booked their place in the FA Cup fourth round. Paired with League Two minnows Port Vale, City should never have been in danger. 1 – At 17 years & 339 days old, Taylor Harwood-Bellis is the youngest Englishman to score for […]
TAYLOR HARWOOD-BELLIS scored his first senior goal for Manchester City as Pep Guardiola’s side booked their place in the FA Cup fourth round.
Paired with League Two minnows Port Vale, City should never have been in danger.
Oleksandr Zinchenko gave City an early lead, but Tom Pope – fresh from his Twitter spat with John Stones – headed home a first-half equaliser.
Sergio Aguero netted before the break, before youngsters Harwood-Bellis and Phil Foden ensured their side would be in the pot for the fourth round draw.
But the day was all about Harwood-Bellis… after all, a goal on your Etihad debut is the stuff dreams are made of for a boyhood City fan.
In years to come he might just conveniently forget to tell people it was against League Two Port Vale and how it came about.
It was about the scruffiest effort you will see – and controversial too.
The 17-year-old was trying to get out of the way of a John Stones shot which hit him almost on the line.
Most people in the ground thought he was offside and it took a couple of minutes for VAR to establish that he wasn’t.
Even so the history books will say the Stockport-born centre back scored on his first start at the home of his beloved City.
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And that will mean the world to him as he follows in the footsteps of Phil Foden and Tommy Doyle in coming through the club’s academy.
By the end all three of them were on – which will please those who want to see more home grown players given their chance.
Back in September, Harwood Bellis impressed in a Carabao Cup tie at Preston alongside fellow youngster Eric Garcia.
Four days later he was stood in the away end at Goodison Park cheering his beloved City to a 3-1 win.
So like Foden and Doyle, he will give it everything to make the grade here.
He has a long way to go – but the signs are promising.
Last month, Raheem Sterling was voted man of the match in the Carabao Cup win at Oxford after scoring two goals.
But the England ace gave the plaque to Harwood Bellis instead – saying the young defender had been ‘fantastic’ at the Kassam Stadium.
This was a good day for him to have another run out – and he will have learned a thing or two.
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In the 34th minute, veteran striker Tom Pope got across his 6ft 1in marker to score a nod in a shock equaliser for the visitors – to send their 8000 travelling fans into ecstasy.
All the talk beforehand had been about Pope and John Stones but the forward seemed to fancy his chances against the youngster – who does not turn 18 until later this month.
Coming up against a forward with such experience is all part of his education – while it allowed the likes of Fernandinho and Nicolas Otamendi time to recover for stiffer tests ahead.
