goal celebrations sparked a mini-riot at Maine Road on Saturday.

Goater scored an injury time winner as City beat Coventry 1-0 in the FA Cup to set up a mouth-watering fifth round clash with Premiership giants, Liverpool.

But his celebrations below an area housing the visiting supporters led to violent scenes which continued long after the final whistle had blown.

City's chief operating officer, Chris Bird, said: "I won't comment until after I've seen the police report on Monday morning.

"What I will say is that we are very pleased with the actions of our stewards and they have been commended by the police.'' Neither the player, his manager, Joe Royle, nor the Football Association commented on the matter over the weekend.

The fourth round tie looked to be heading for a replay with the scores locked at 0-0 until the Bermudian hitman popped up in stoppage time.

Goater had been benched for much of the game but came on to replace Costa Rican striker Paulo Wanchope in the 70th minute.

However, it looked as if the substitution was not going to pay off as the Islander never received the service he relies on from the City flankmen.

That was until two minutes into injury time when he rose to power a header past the helpless Coventry goalkeeper, Magnus Hedman.

Royle publically apologised to opposite number, Gordon Strachan after the game for the manner in which it was decided.

"For the first time this season we got something we did not deserve,'' he said. "I am more pleased that the game did not go to a replay because that is the last thing we need at the moment.'' Goater, relegated to the rank of substitute recently as Royle preferred a pairing of Wanchope and Darren Huckerby up front, may have justifiable cause to ask for a starting berth in forthcoming games after his last-gasp heroics.

Certainly the way Wanchope reacted to be replaced by the Bermudian -- glaring at the bench and storming off down the tunnel -- suggested he may not be happy with his lot at Maine Road.

If the talented but temperamental Central American does fall out of favour with Royle it can only count in favour of the man whose goals fired City into the Premiership in the first place.

City's next outing is ironically against their forthcoming cup opponents Liverpool on Wednesday night, this time in the league.

Kyle Lightbourne suffered a setback in his bid to get a move away from Stoke City when he had to leave the field after just 17 minutes of his second game with loan club Swindon Town on Saturday.

The transfer-listed striker was the victim of some tough tackling just minutes into the Robins' 3-0 victory over fellow Division Two strugglers Bury.

A crunching challenge from Chris Billy led to Lightbourne being replaced with the score at 2-0.

His stay at the County Ground has been fraught with problems -- his first game came just hours after agreeing the move and ended in a 1-0 defeat to Port Vale, while two other matches fell victim to bad weather. He is scheduled to return to Stoke in a couple of weeks, although it is feasible Swindon may seek to extend his stay in view of events.

Local soccer: Eagles upset St. George's and Adams recommends Trott -- see page 29 Shaun Goater: last-gasp winner.