45 min Three minutes of added time.

41 min: Great chance for Salford! Lund is fouled 25 yards from goal by Grealish. The free-kick is a fair way to the left of centre, probably too far for a shot. Garbutt plays it short to Adelakun, who curls a gorgeous cross into the six-yard box. Kouassi sees it late and miscontrols the ball in front of goal.

Moments later Berkoe slashes wide from Lund’s lay-off. The first chance was the big one.

40 min Savinho goes past Garbutt and then goes over. It looked like a free-kick but the referee disagreed.

39 min And now Savinho curls over from the edge of the D after being teed up by McAtee.

38 min Mnoga blocks a stinging shot from Doku, who has been a regular threat on the City left.

36 min “Apparently, City have been linked with Matty Young, and could be interested in buying him from Sunderland,” says Matt Dony. “I think they should be looking further forward in Salford’s team. A rush and a push and Lund is theirs.”

Was MAKE IT STOP a Smiths song?

35 min This is certainly Salford’s best spell of the game. Kouassi slaloms elegantly into the area from the lot and drives a low shot that is comfortably saved by the diving Ederson. The better option might have been to find Mnoga to his right.

32 min Salford have enjoyed a bit more possession in the last five minutes, albeit largely in the middle third of the pitch.

30 min Doku moves into the area and is shaping to shoot when Lund makes an important tackle.

27 min “Oh well, that’s probably it, isn’t it?” says Charles Antaki, though it’s not clear whether he’s talking about this match or planet earth. “The mind wanders on to other things - is it only at the Etihad that we have this double bank of illuminated adverts around the pitch? I suppose it speaks to the ingenuity of the marketing people in squeezing yet more acreage of publicity onto our eyeballs. Eventually it’ll be a one-way glass wall of adverts reaching up to the roof, with the crowd behind allowed to look through from the other side.”

26 min There’s a break in player while Salford keeper Matty Young receives treatment.

24 min This is turning into a comfortable evening for Manchester City. Salford will be frustrated by their inability to keep the ball – I think they’ve had less than 20 per cent possession.

21 min Liam Shephard was booked straight after the goal. He wiped out Jeremy Doku two or three minutes earlier but the ball didn’t go dead until City scored.

That was a fine team goal. Savinho angled a nice pass behind the defence to the underlapping Nunes, who drew Young and squared the ball to give Mubama an open goal.

17 min The resulting corner is headed back across goal by Ake and booted off the line by Kouassi. Simpson-Pusey headed fresh air before the ball reached Kouassi; had he made contact he would have scored.

16 min Grealish turns smartly, moves to the edge of the area and whacks a shot is that well blocked by Garbutt.

15 min “Someone had to do it,” is the slightly ominous subject of Matt Dony’s email. “I was looking forward to an awkward game for Man City, obviously hoping for an upset. But they’re already looking like it’s going to be a thoroughly comfortable evening. Heaven knows I’m miserable now.”

13 min Grealish, playing more centrally, is seeing a lot of the ball. As is Doku, who cuts inside from the left and has a pop from 25 yards. He drags it wide of the near post.

10 min O’Reilly’s cross is taken off the head of Mubama by Garbett but loops towards Savinho beyond the far post. His volley deflects into the side netting and the unsighted referee mistakenly gives a goalkick.

9 min At the other end Matty Lund heads onto the roof of the net from Garbutt’s cross. Good effort that.

6 min Grealish’s corner is headed away at the near post by Tilt.

6 min Doku crackles down the left wing to win the first corner of the game.

4 min Simpson-Pusey is flattened near the halfway line but the referee plays the advantage. Eventually O’Reilly slashes well wide from 25 yards.

2 min This is the rough City formation.

Manchester City (4-3-3) Ederson; Nunes, Simpson-Pusey, Ake, O’Reilly; McAtee, Gundogan, Grealish; Savinho, Mubama, Doku.

1 min Peep peep! Manchester City kick off from left to right as we watch. It looks like Matheus Nunes is starting at right-back witn Nico O’Reilly at left-back.

A reminder of the teams as they take the field. Basically, nobody has a clue how Manchester City will set up.

Manchester City (possible 4-3-3) Ederson; Nunes, O’Reilly, Simpson-Pusey, Ake; McAtee, Gundogan, Grealish; Savinho, Mubama, Doku.
Substitutes: Akanji, De Bruyne, Foden, Gvardiol, Haaland, Kovacic, Lewis, Ortega, Bernardo Silva.

Salford City (possible 3-1-4-2) Young; Shephard, Tilt, Garbutt; Ashley; Mnoga, Lund, Fornah, Berkoe; Adelakun, Kouassi.
Substitutes: Chester, Heys, Jones, Malcolm, McAleny, Stockton, Taylor, Watson, Wright.

“Hi Rob,” says Peter Oh. “With a Tilt in central defence we’re certain to see plenty of pinball action in the Salford six-yard box.”

“This is why the FA Cup is great,” writes Mary Waltz. “Hellbound Plymouth rising from the dead, shocking a Premier League team. I know that Plymouth will not go far in this tourney, that a PL squad will win the cup. But seeing the occasional David upset a Goliath is brilliant.”

It’ll never get old.

Forget the game, no need for any football. The BBC coverage has just begun with a poem from Salford’s finest, John Cooper Clarke, and that’s all the entertainment we need for tonight.

There’s no VAR in the FA Cup third round, and no replays. If necessary, tonight’s match can go to extra-time and penalties.

“Evening,” says Damian Clarke. “Any news from Johnny Marr? Given he’s a City supporter, but a good percentage of the globe only knows Salford because of an album cover?”

He doesn’t usually email the MBM until the match is under way. But since you mentioned The Queen Is Dead, let’s have some music to get us in the mood.

The first big shock of the FA Cup third round occurred at the Gtech Community Stadium this afternoon. Jonathan Wilson was there for us.

Pep’s rebuild starts here

Read Will Unwin’s preview

Salford are third in League Two and optimism is building that they could exit it through the ceiling rather than the floor. Robinson is doing an impressive job with the players at his disposal and the academy is starting to produce players to give hints of an upward curve. The former Oxford manager backed the owners after meeting them just over a year ago to discuss the job. He had so much faith he did not sign a contract for the first seven matches of his reign and he could further repay their decision to hire him by attracting the finance to kickstart their ambitions.