Manchester City vs. Sheffield Wednesday: Score, Report and Post-Match Reaction

Frank Lampard scored his second and third goals for Manchester City as the reigning Premier League champions cruised into the fourth round of the Capital One Cup with a 7-0 hammering of Sheffield on Wednesday.    

It took 47 minutes for Lampard to open the hosts' account, whereby a barrage of goals then followed, the Owls conceding four in 13 minutes to effectively end their League Cup dreams.

Alex Livesey/Getty Images

Edin Dzeko (two), Jesus Navas, Yaya Toure and debutant Jose Angel Pozo contributed to the scoreline to give the Citizens an entirely more positive outlook than the one they had heading in at the half-time whistle.

Match of the Day's Gary Lineker highlighted Lampard's City scoring streak as the on-loan midfielder continues his English legacy, while OptaJoe illustrated Dzeko's prolific rate in this competition, now standing at 11 goals in 11 games:

"

This Lampard fella is suddenly banging 'em in for Manchester City. Where has he been hiding?

— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) September 24, 2014"

The turnaround in performance is a testament to manager Manuel Pellegrini in what must have been a sterling half-time team talk, his side showing more get-up in attack after the break.

After the match, Pellegrini credited his team's second-half rebound to a couple of tactical tweaks, per the club's official site:

"

I think we had a change of attitude in the second half and we were more aggressive and direct. Obviously when Sheffield Wednesday went down to ten-men it was easier for us.

I think the style of play after the break was more important after half-time than the amount of goals we scored.

"

Additionally, Lampard won the penalty for Toure to convert his side's fourth, a foul from Wednesday's Kamil Zayatte also resulting in a red card, although a questionable one, per Fox Soccer Trax:

Aside from the high goal count, however, Pellegrini will perhaps take most heart from the clean sheet his side managed, albeit against Championship opposition.

Prior to Wednesday evening, his team had failed to keep a spotless defensive record in their previous five games, as Eliaquim Mangala continues his integration into the side after making his debut in Sunday's 1-1 draw against Chelsea.

Alex Livesey/Getty Images

And it was largely a first-class line-up that Pellegrini fielded, the only less familiar faces being that of Willy Caballero in goal and Bacary Sagna at right-back, although neither of those players represents any considerable downgrade in quality.

At 4-0, Pellegrini did see fit to hand his lower-profile players some much-needed experience, however, with Scott Sinclair, Dedryck Boyata and Pozo coming on for cameos, the latter making his first-team debut.

And what a debut it turned out to be for the Spaniard. He marked his first senior appearance with a goal, a calmly tucked-away strike in the 88th minute, per beIN Sports, Lampard striking his second in the game's dying minutes:

The result gives City a major boost as they prepare for this Saturday's clash at Hull City, their first win in a month providing the squad with the kind of confidence that filled the Etihad Stadium on a more regular basis last season.