Leyton Orient midfielder Jamie Donley entered FA Cup folklore with the outrageous shot that led to the League One side taking a shock lead in their fourth-round match with Manchester City.
City eventually turned the tie on its head in the second half, equalising when Rico Lewis’ shot deflected in off new signing Abdoukodir Khusanov before Kevin de Bruyne finished from close range 12 minutes from time.
But all that was a bit of an irrelevance. Nothing was more memorable than the home side’s goal.
Twenty-year-old Donley, a dual England and Northern Ireland youth international, hit a shot from fully 50 yards after spotting City keeper Stefan Ortega off his line, with the ball going in off the German as it came crashing down off the crossbar.
The effort drew instant recollections of Ronnie Radford’s famous effort for Hereford against Newcastle in 1972.
For a long time, it appeared the goal would have a similarly giant-killing effect as Pep Guardiola’s side teetered on the bring of their first FA Cup defeat by a lower league side since 2018.
However, the Leyton Orient fans’ ‘sacked in the morning’ chants were silenced as City levelled before Guardiola reverted to his heavy artillery, bringing on Phil Foden and De Bruyne to ensure his side escaped unscathed as they turn their attentions to Tuesday’s Champions League showdown with Real Madrid.
Donley creates moment to treasure
Forget that it will go down as an own goal by virtue of Ortega’s desperate attempts to keep the ball out, Donley deserves the wonder goal to be his.
Ortega knew he was in trouble the moment the Tottenham loanee took aim.
The City keeper scrambled back as the ball sailed skywards and stretched as far as he could as it dropped and a spellbound stadium watched on.
He could not know if he had not tried to keep the shot out, it probably would not have gone in. That was an impossible decision to make though – it was far too close for comfort for that. As the ball struck the crossbar and dropped down, Ortega fell, and diverted it in with the top of his thigh.
It was not as clean a goal as Radford’s famous effort in the Edgar Street mud but for the way Donley strode on to the loose ball, assessed the situation in an instant and delivered a virtually perfect execution, he deserves just as much credit.
City complained bitterly about the challenge by Sonny Perkins on Nico Gonzalez that created the space. Gonzalez went off almost immediately afterwards – not the way Guardiola’s £50m new-boy wanted to make his debut – a legacy of the incident. But with no VAR, as Leicester found to their cost less than 24 hours earlier, there was no review.
It wasn’t enough to give the home fans the win they craved, although Jayden Sweeney failed to convert an excellent chance to take the tie into extra time in the final minute. But thanks to Donley, they will never forget this day.
