Man City 2-1 Aston Villa: Manchester City striker Georgios Samaras scored his fourth goal in eight games for his new club to pave the way for a 2-1 home victory over Aston Villa in their FA Cup fifth-round replay.
City next meet the winners of tomorrow's replay between West Ham United and Bolton Wanderers in a quarter-final tie scheduled for the City of Manchester stadium on Monday.
Greek international Samaras, who joined City from Dutch club Heerenveen for £7million in January, opened the scoring after 17 minutes.
He raced clear of the defence and slotted in the rebound after his first effort was parried by keeper Thomas Sorensen.
Winger Trevor Sinclair wasted an excellent chance to make it 2-0 in the 39th minute, shooting straight at Sorensen from 15 metres after beating the offside trap.
Villa continued to struggle and their former striker Darius Vassell added a second goal for City from close range after good work by Albert Riera four minutes into the second half.
City went close to a third when Antoine Sibierski headed against the post two minutes later.Villa rarely threatened until midfielder Steven Davis pulled one back with his eighth goal of the season in the 85th minute.
Meanwhile City boss Stuart Pearce signed his two-year rolling contract tonight. Pearce had been working without a contract since replacing Kevin Keegan 12 months ago.
But after discussions with chairman John Wardle, Pearce finally decided to put to paper, partly to satisfy Premier League regulations.
A statement from the club read: "Manchester City manager Stuart Pearce confirmed that he has signed the contract he agreed last summer with chairman John Wardle.
"The Blues boss had been working to the terms of his two-year rolling deal since July and last week promised to put pen to paper this week."
Pearce, 43, has been linked with the England vacancy and his signing of the new deal may not halt that speculation.
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