Manchester City 5 Scunthorpe 1:THE TYPE of fixture that Manchester City used to regard with anxiety, even dread was dealt with emphatically this time as they advanced into the quarter-finals with something to spare .

Scunthorpe did, at least, rattle their wealthy opponents with a first-half equaliser from Jonathan Forte but the home crowd’s nerves were soothed on a night when Roque Santa Cruz got his City career going.

The Paraguayan scored City’s second goal with a classic centre-forward’s header before Joleon Lescott, Carlos Tevez and the substitute Michael Johnson ended Scunthorpe’s hopes of an upset with second-half goals.

Stephen Ireland opened the scoring with a stylish goal on his return to the team after missing the last four matches. Shaun Wright-Phillips broke after just three minutes and slipped the ball to Ireland who caught out the goalkeeper Joe Murphy with a clever, early shot, curling the ball into the bottom right-hand corner.

Forte’s equaliser for the visitors stirred some bad memories of home fans but once Santa Cruz’s fine header restored the lead it was plain sailing for City.

Lescott made it it 3-1 with a header from Sean Wright-Phillips’s corner. Tevez then swept in a cross from substitute Vladimir Weiss before Johnson, fired home a deflected shot from 25 yards.

MANCHESTER CITY: Given, Zabaleta, Kompany, Lescott, Sylvinho, Wright-Phillips, De Jong, Barry (Johnson 72), Ireland (Weiss 59), Tevez (Mwaruwari 79), Santa Cruz. Subs not used: Taylor, Richards, Bridge, Bellamy. Booked: De Jong, Zabaleta.

SCUNTHORPE UTD: Murphy, Byrne, Jones (Canavan 46), Mirfin, Williams, Josh Wright, McCann (Togwell 77), O’Connor (Hooper 68), Woolford, Forte, Hayes. Subs not used: Lillis, Andrew Wright, Sparrow, Spence.

Referee: Michael Oliver (Northumberland).