Manchester City U21s boss Brian Barry-Murphy hailed Portuguese sensation Carlos Borges as he helped seal a brilliant victory for the Blues away at Derby County.
City started the brighter and took the lead on 27 minutes as a through ball by Ben Knight picked out Borges who placed his shot into the roof of Scott Loach's net. Ten minutes later the Rams were level against the run of play.
A corner into the Blues box was not dealt with allowing experienced striker David McGoldrick to tap home. The hosts came out all guns blazing in the second half but it was Borges who made an impression again as he broke the offside trap to round Loach and tap home.
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The three points were secured in the first minute of stoppage time. A ball into the penalty area picked out Borges who post-match claimed to have completed his hat-trick (and claimed the match ball as a result), although officially it went down as a Craig Forsyth own goal.
Speaking to the MEN at full-time, Barry-Murphy praised the 18-year-old's ability. "I think all aspects of his game tonight were really good," he explained.
"I suppose the boring bit in terms of his work rate for the team and the way he performed is parts of his game which are a huge development area for him. So to see him do that and get his rewards off the back of that is big for me because it adds substance to the fact you need to play for the team and then you will get your rewards.
"To see the team score so many goals off the back of so many disciplined performances is great for us." Victory at Pride Park means City travel to Grimsby Town next month knowing that they can still progress through to the knockout stages.
When asked about the competition as a whole, Barry-Murphy added: "One of the key things that the people at the top of our club want is for our players to understand what it means to play for big prizes and have something at stake. This element of competition where there is a consequence of getting through is priceless for our players to deal with that and play the way they did.
"I thought it was exceptional [how they delivered the game plan] under some extreme pressure." The only concern for City was seeing Ben Knight stretchered off the pitch at full-time which contributed to nine additional minutes being played.
Although it was too early for Barry-Murphy to reveal the extent of the injury, he was hopeful that it was not too serious.
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