Kevin De Bruyne's opening goal for Man City against Cardiff City was a fluke, Neil Warnock revealed after saying that he was 'disappointed' with his goalkeeper Neil Etheridge.
Etheridge was the Bluebirds' standout player in the Cardiff City indebted to outstanding Neil Etheridge despite comfortable Man City victory , pulling off a string of impressive saves to limit the damage in the second half.
The Cardiff keeper even drew applause from sections of the Man City crowd after an outstanding reaction save to deny Aymeric Laporte, as Pep Guardiola's side had to be content with just two goals.
But Warnock said the Philippines international should have actually kept out the opener from De Bruyne, while praising the rest of the goalkeeper's display. The Belgian even admitted in a television interview that he meant it as a cross.
"The first goal, I think Neil the goalkeeper will be disappointed in that," Warnock said.
"When I went on the pitch after he had a great second half, pulled off some great saves, I said 'it's a pity about the goal, son' and he said 'gaffer he didn't mean it, De Bruyne!'.
"Kevin was just going off the pitch so I shouted to Kevin and said 'tell me the truth, he said you didn't mean it' and he went 'I didn't'.
"He meant to cross it but the power of the cross was too much. It's a good lesson for (Neil) because you can't anticipate as a goalkeeper, but that was good of Kevin really."
Leroy Sane scored the other goal on Cardiff City indebted to outstanding Neil Etheridge despite comfortable Man City victory for the reigning Premier League champions, who leapfrogged Liverpool to regain top spot.
Warnock spoke of his pride in the Bluebirds after a spirited defensive display following the disappointment of losing to Chelsea in controversial fashion.
Cardiff City indebted to outstanding Neil Etheridge despite comfortable Man City victory
"I was just really proud of them," he added.
"To concede a goal as early as that, you do fear the worst. They started like the Real Madrid of 10 years ago, they're so quick, everybody's comfortable on the ball.
"We only had one day (to train) after the disappointment of the Chelsea game.
"The circumstances could have knocked a lot of teams really, but they came to see me on Monday morning when I'd mentioned the 23s and everybody told me 'gaffer, we want to play in this game!' - so that was nice."
