uk.eurosport.yahoo.com
A Dedryk Boyata own goal gave Scunthorpe some hope of at least forcing a replay at Eastlands, but Robinho made sure of a home draw in the fifth round against Stoke City with a goal in the final 10 minutes.
It was Robinho's first goal of the season for City, and possibly his last for the club, if reports that he recently revealed his impending departure prove to have any foundation.
After Arsenal's exit at the hands of Stoke earlier on Sunday, Scunthorpe must have held out hopes that they too could cause an upset, especially with several first-team City players rested due to their Carling Cup semi-final second leg at Old Trafford on Wednesday.
However, they found themselves behind after just three minutes when Petrov scored his fifth goal of the season.
Robinho found Petrov on the left, and the Bulgarian powered past Garry Thompson and fired a strike into the near top corner.
Unperturbed, Scunthorpe played their way into the game and almost levelled on the quarter-hour mark. Grant McCann's corner was met by Cliff Byrne's well-timed run, but the Irish defender saw his header canon off the underside of the bar. City half-cleared the ball but another ball came in over the top and Hayes stretched to send his effort wide.
Hayes made up for that miss with half an hour gone after City once again failed to fully clear their lines from a corner. After repelling several balls into the box another dropped perfectly for Hayes to blast a volley into the top corner to equalise. The striker was in an offside position when the ball came in, but the flag stayed down and the goal stood.
City regained the lead just before half time when Stephen Ireland marked his return from injury by lifting a weighted ball over the defence and Onuoha was on hand to fire past Scunthorpe goalkeeper Joe Murphy.
City manager Roberto Mancini brought on young Irishman Greg Cunningham at half time for his debut at left-back, and moved veteran full-back Sylvinho into midfield. Less than a quarter of an hour later the Brazilian scored his first goal in almost four years when he fired a fearsome dipping strike from 30 yards out that had Murphy beaten at full stretch.
Scunthorpe's hopes were again raised with 20 minutes remaining when Cliff Byrne turned a long throw from Sam Togwell towards goal and Boyata instinctively stuck a leg out and steered the shot past goalkeeper Stuart Taylor.
Nigel Akins's side were spurred on by thoughts of a Premier League scalp against the club that beat them 5-1 in the Carling Cup earlier in the season, and City had to weather a storm before they finally put the tie to rest with a well-crafted goal.
Sylvinho fed Petrov on the edge of the box and the winger played a first-time ball into the path of Robinho, who lifted a classy finish over Murphy and ran towards the travelling City fans and embraced them in celebration.
Whether that gesture turns out to be a parting shot to the fans should become clear before the end of the month.
Tony Mabert / Eurosport
Source: uk.eurosport.com
