“I hope they are disappointed as we want to win football matches. They came here full of hope and belief that we could cause the biggest upset, but when you get the reality, when you step on that pitch, it's an uncomfortable place to be."
18:19, 10 Jan 2026
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - JANUARY 10: Dejected players of Exeter City at full time following the 10-1 defeat during the Emirates FA Cup Third Round match between Manchester City and Exeter City on January 10, 2026 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images)
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MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - JANUARY 10: Dejected players of Exeter City at full time following the 10-1 defeat during the Emirates FA Cup Third Round match between Manchester City and Exeter City on January 10, 2026 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images)(Image: Getty Images)
Exeter City suffered their worst ever defeat as a ruthless and clinical Manchester City side showed no let up as they dished out a 10-1 thrashing in the FA Cup third round.
4-0 at half-time, the Citizens kept on going until the final whistle at The Etihad Stadium as they delivered on the wishes of their fans who chanted ‘we want ten’ as the goals kept flowing.
Max Alleyne, Rodri, Nathan Ake, and a Jack Fitzwater own goal made it four at the break. Rico Lewis, Antoine Semenyo, Tijani Reijnders, Nico O’Reilly and Ryan McAidoo made it nine as the gulf in class was showing.
But the 7,800 Grecians fans had their moment in the 89 th minute when teenager George Birch, on off the bench, smashed home his first senior goal from 25 yards to the delight of the travelling hoards. That Lewis got his second – and Man City’s tenth – in stoppage-time equalled their biggest ever win, and was the first time Exeter had conceded ten in a game.
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Manchester City's Rico Lewis scoring his sides tenth goal during the Emirates FA Cup third round match at the Etihad Stadium, Manchester. Picture date: Saturday January 10, 2026. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: Nick Potts/PA Wire. (Image: PA)
After faltering in the Premier League with three successive draws, and with a Carabao Cup semi-final to come in midweek, this was as comfortable an afternoon as City could have hoped for. For Exeter, lessons to be learned, but this game won’t define their season as a star-studded and not far off full strength Premier League side dispatched the Grecians and ensured there was no FA Cup magic.
“I think it's for me, a great lesson that an experienced manager, one of the best managers of all time, when he needs to win a football game, he picks a team that's very capable and ready to win that football game,” City manager Gary Caldwell said.
“Their behaviours throughout were relentless, their attitude and the respect they showed us I thought was outstanding and they did what Man City should do to us. They were clinical. Some of their play, the rotations are exceptional, but for me, I just said to the players, the thing that stands out is the way they recover the ball, the way they run for each other, the way they defend. That didn't drop off at 4-0, 5-0, and they kept going.
“And we can take a lot from this game in terms of the behaviours we try and coaching the players every day and the behaviours we try and instil, the team can take a lot from that, because that was a really humbling experience. It's an experience that I think can be positive. Once you analyse it in the cold light of day, and ultimately our season will not be defined by this, our season will be defined by the next 22 league games.
“I hope they are disappointed as we want to win football matches. They came here full of hope and belief that we could cause the biggest upset, but when you get the reality, when you step on that pitch, it's an uncomfortable place to be.
“When you know the people you're up against are quicker, they're stronger, they have quality, they have a mentality that they're there to kill, they're there to win. Yeah, that's. I've been there for my own experience, I know how difficult that is. So it's our job to pick them up as the players we were up against, the gulf in class was huge, and if we learn from this, then it's a good experience. Our next league games will show whether we learn from it or not.”
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MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - JANUARY 10: The scoreboard is seen reading 'Manchester City 10-1 Exeter City' during the Emirates FA Cup Third Round match between Manchester City and Exeter City on January 10, 2026 in Manchester, England. (Photo by James Gill - Danehouse/Getty Images)(Image: Getty Images)
“I think what went wrong was when the team sheet came in,” Caldwell said. “When you face Haaland etc you face a team, I think that team's probably the best part of a billion pounds if you put the whole squad together. And the quality is there.
“What I will say is, we conceded some poor goals in that first half and we have to, I said all week, you matter who we're playing against, we have to do the right things and we can take a backward step. We could have done better for some of the goals in the first half.
“We've not conceded goals cheaply, and I felt like the goals in the first half were cheap goals. I thought in the second half they scored some brilliant goals where they played through us. But in the first half I thought the goals we conceded were preventable.”
There was nearly a dream start for the Grecians with only five minutes gone when Liam Oakes rose highest from a corner, but his header was tipped over.
“It might have annoyed them and they might have scored more. That's my worry if that had have went in,” Caldwell said when asked if it might have been different had James Trafford not kept it out.
It took 11 minutes for Man City to take the lead. It was scrappy and from a set piece as Alleyne’s finish just had enough power to squeeze in off the post. Midway through the first half it was two. There was nothing City could do about it as the ball broke to Rodri 30 yards from goal and the Spaniard lashed in a first time strike which clipped the inside of the post.
Goal celebrations for Rodri of Manchester City during the Emirates FA Cup Round 3 match between Manchester City and Exeter City at The Etihad Stadium on 10 January 2026 in Manchester, England (Photo by Steve Taylor/PPAUK)
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Goal celebrations for Rodri of Manchester City during the Emirates FA Cup Round 3 match between Manchester City and Exeter City at The Etihad Stadium on 10 January 2026 in Manchester, England (Photo by Steve Taylor/PPAUK)(Image: Steve Taylor/PPAUK)
Ake – albeit he knew nothing about it – when a clearance from a corner hit him and trickled in made it 3-0. And it was 4-0 at half-time when Fitzwater, in attempting to clear a cross, could only divert it into his own net.
Lewis made it five moments into the second half as City had no intention of taking their foot off the gas. Semenyo on his debut then made it six with a smart finish as the goals kept coming.
Reijnders made it seven when he curled in from the edge of the area to extend the misery for the visitors. O’Reilly made it eight when he headed home from a corner with still ten minutes to go. And then Ryan McAidoo made it nine with still three minutes to go when the youngster smashed home from the edge of the box.
But the travelling fans had their moment in the 90th minute when George Birch strode forward and from 25 yards smashed a strike into the top corner to make it 9-1. The joy lasted only seconds though as straight from kick-off, City went forward, and Lewis scored his second.
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Goal celebrations for George Birch of Exeter City during the Emirates FA Cup Third Round match between Manchester City and Exeter City on 10 January 2026 in Etihad Stadium, Manchester, England. Photo by Tom Sandberg/PPAUK(Image: Tom Sandberg/PPAUK)
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“I've never celebrated a goal at 9-0 down the way I celebrated that,” Caldwell said of the goal. “But when you bring an academy player back from Weston-super-Mare, when you put him on an environment like this, when he's never started a league game for us, and he shows the courage to drive forward at a back line and hit it with his weak foot like that, then there could be a big future for that player.
It was Manchester City’s joint biggest win ever, level with the 10-1 victory over Huddersfield Town in 1987. It was Exeter’s worst defeat ever, surpassing the 9-0 defeats to Notts County in 1948, Northampton Town in 1958 and Reading in the EFL Trophy in 2023.
Exeter City are back in action on Saturday in League One when they host Stevenage. And that ultimately will be what the season is about.