Jason Wilcox’s side will meet Leicester City in a two-legged semi-final after coming from behind to best Crewe Alexandra.
The visitors, who produced the shock of the fifth round to knock out Arsenal last week, took the lead after just seven minutes courtesy of a 25 yard rocket from Tom Lowery.
However, two goals in two minutes from Aaron Nemane and Brandon Barker transformed the complexion of the tie before the game was even 15 minutes old.
A vocal Crewe support traded “Blue Moons” with the home faithful and roared themselves hoarse, inspiring a plucky, obstinate performance from the visitors but the excellent Denzeil Boadu scored City’s third after 49 minutes to put the game beyond them.
Gloss was added thanks to Barker’s second and City’s fourth of the night with 25 minutes left on the clock, before Thierry Ambrose both scored from close range in the final ten minutes to leave the scoreboard with a rather one-sided look.
Seven years have passed since City last lifted the Youth Cup in 2008.
It’s a wait that City u18s boss Jason Wilcox has called on his side to end this year, starting with Monday night’s quarter-final clash with Crewe Alexandra.
Wilcox’s counterpart Alex Morris referred to City as the “flag-bearers” of youth football in the build-up to the match – high praise from someone involved in the Cheshire side’s prolific youth setup.
The Railywaymen have revelled in their role as the competition’s underdogs, overcoming Arsenal, Bolton and Fulham in their run to the last eight, while the night’s hosts had seen off Oxford, Coventry and Stoke to set up this meeting.
Snow drifted into the Academy Stadium as the match kicked off and this flurry hadn’t had chance to decide whether or not to stick before City went close to taking the lead.
Two minutes in, Celina’s free-kick from the edge of the area beat the wall and had Crewe ‘keeper Liam Matthews scrambling across his goal but it landed on the roof of the net.
Five minutes later, the visitors took the lead with a bolt from the blue.
City had men back and in position to deal with a Crewe counter-attack but they could do nothing to prevent Lowery’s drilled effort from 25 yards finding the very top corner of Kjetl Haug’s goal.
It was the first time Wilcox’s side had found themselves behind in this season’s FA Youth Cup and a reaction was required to avoid adding City’s name to the list of Crewe’s big name scalps.
That’s just what they produced as two goals in two minutes turned the game on its head.
The home side equalised after on 13 minutes when Barker and Angelino dovetailed to great effect down the left wing, with the latter providing an inch perfect cross from the byline for Nemane to tap in at the back post.
Two minutes later, Barker grabbed his fourth goal of this season’s competition to complete the turnaround, drilling the ball across Matthews from the left corner of the penalty area.
Celina had another good chance to score his third goal in the competition after 25 minutes but Matthews saved the one-on-one well with his feet and then pounced on Ambrose’s 40th minute header to keep his side alive in the tie going in at the break.
The visitors would have been hoping for a similar start to the second half as they enjoyed in the first but it was City who wasted no time in notching from the restart, with Boadu extending the lead.
Angelino pickpocketed his opposite number deep inside the opposition half and the ball broke favourably to Boadu, who opened up his body, picked his spot and curled the ball into the far corner.
It was an exceptional, composed finish from the young Londoner who has endured more than his share of injury troubles this season but those problems looked far behind him on the evidence of this excellent display from City’s no.10.
There was time left for Barker to score his second of the night, racing clear of the Crewe defence and flicking the ball past the onrushing goalkeeper to end the match as a contest.
Celina finally got the goal he deserved to make it 5-1 after a series of near-misses as he broke from deep after 82 minutes to slot past Matthews from just inside the penalty area and Ambrose completed the rout with four minutes left, slotting in after Nemane unselfishly squared.
The scoreline was perhaps just a little harsh on the visitors who fought valiantly, especially in the first half, but City’s seemingly bottomless well of creativity and clinical finishing was too much.
Now, City and Leicester will face off over two legs for the right to face Chelsea or Spurs in the final of the competition.
Is our seven-year wait for success in the nation’s most prestigious youth tournament at an end? On this strength of this quarter final showing, City will be difficult to stop.
