BURNLEY boss Sean Dyche was aggrieved with Manchester City's opening goal but felt his side had only themselves to blame for their 4-1 defeat in the FA Cup.

City looked in danger of falling at the first hurdle when a thumping Ashley Barnes finish gave Burnley a half-time lead.

But the Premier League leaders hit back strongly, with two goals in as many minutes from Sergio Aguero turning the tables before Leroy Sane and Bernardo Silva added the gloss.

The equaliser came after a quickly-taken free-kick, with Dyche and City boss Pep Guardiola clashing verbally on the touchline.

Dyche was unhappy Aguero's leveller was allowed to stand but felt his side shot themselves in the foot by conceding the second goal straight away.

"That can happen here and that was really my only overriding gripe with the team because I thought they were very good up until their first goal," he said.

"Bit of a contentious one. I spoke to the ref and he said he doesn't have to blow the whistle – but I think when Ashley Westwood's five yards away motioning to say, 'Are you going to blow the whistle?' and he's the man who should be in the slot where they passed it to, I'm bound to be aggrieved by that.

"But after that we looked a bit punch drunk. We didn't clear our lines on two occasions, our shape went a little bit and teams like this have the power to almost smell that moment."

Guardiola reacted to the controversy by calling on Premier League managers to give referees a break after his spat with Dyche at the Etihad Stadium.

Dyche was unhappy referee Graham Scott allowed Ilkay Gundogan to take the set-piece but Guardiola spoke up to defend the officials.

The City boss said: "I apologise, I didn't want to go out of control. I said leave the referees please.

"I have a lot of respect for Sean Dyche and the way they play because, of course it's completely different, but they do it perfectly and that's why football is tough.

"But I think all the managers around the world, especially here, forget to make their job. If they were offended, I'm so sorry, because I don't want to do that."

Dyche shrugged off the incident, saying: "You both fight, you both want your teams to win. That's just how it should be. Everybody's allowed to be passionate, I believe."

Guardiola added of the result: "I'm so happy. It was a tough draw – what Burnley have done in the Premier League so far is amazing.

"I think the 90 minutes was quite good. Even in the first half I didn't feel we were not playing good, just a little bit a lack of aggressiveness. We spoke at half-time, we only need one goal so focus and try to win the game, and we did it in the second half."