Cork: Equaliser was controversial

Burnley had been good value for their lead at the break after striker Ashley Barnes had beaten Claudio Bravo at his near post in the 25th minute and the away side had held out for a quarter of the second half.

That was until Ilkay Gundogan slid a quick free kick through to Sergio Aguero, before referee Graham Scott had given the go ahead, and the Argentinian peeled away from his marker to slot the ball past Nick Pope.

Aguero turned the game around minutes later as Pep Guardiola’s side went on to win the tie 4-1 to keep their hopes of a domestic treble alive.

“I wasn’t happy with it, a few of the lads weren’t happy with it, but we let everyone else talk about it,” said Cork. “I don’t think it was right to let it go.

“It was the first goal, it gets them back in the game and they get momentum and the crowd get behind them.

“When you’ve worked so hard you’re upset and it’s a contentious decision and you’re still thinking about the goal. They got a second straightaway and the game was gone after that.

“If the first goal hadn’t gone in it would have been a different game.”

However, Cork says that Sean Dyche’s side will take plenty of confidence from the first half display where they were more than a match for City.

“We did really first half and we did well second half up until the first goal,” he said. “After that it was similar to earlier in the season, it’s hard to keep going when they get the momentum and you’ve just had a blow like that.

“It was hard work but there were some good performances and we could have got more out of it.

“First half we were really good, we came away with a lot of confidence, we’ve done it a lot away from home this season and we’ve stood up to the challenge.

“The lads can take confidence going into the next game.”