Fortunate falls Man City way

Fortune fell Man City's way as they advance to the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup after overcoming Aalborg BK on penalties. While far from an overwhelming performance, with the move past the Danish side the Citizens book their first quarter final appearance in European competition in thirty years and of the remaining competition have drawn fairly well for the next round against Hamburg. Should Mark Hughes and company advance they will face the winners of Udinese v Werder Bremen in the semi-finals.

Although City has benefited from a very fortunate drawing, they will need to come out much bigger in the final stages of the UEFA Cup lest they will be handled sternly. Against Magnus Pehrsson’s Danish side they showed little to suggest that they will hoist the trophy and truthfully are very fortunate to advance this far. That match was effectively a dismal affair in the first forty-five minutes that would stretch the most ardent fans ability to call it watchable. Yet chance is a peculiar story at times and when you least expect it the simple round ball bounces in the oddest of ways. For City, the work of Shay Given was unquestionably the heroic effort of the day as the former Newcastle man made up for his winter transfer fee with a pair of brilliant stops in extra time penalties.

The hosts came out in a conservative 4-5-1 and while a rather dreary way to go forward in the match, it certainly limited the Citizens assault to barely a trickle. For the match Mark Hughes utilized Welshman Ched Evans and Robinho in the loosely termed "attack' with Craig Bellamy given extra time to deal a sore knee. However with both sides seemingly pained with the idea of pushing forward there was nary a reasonable scoring chance before the break. Equally it would be erroneous to suggest that the second forty-five offered little excitement until the final ten minutes of regulation time. With City on cruise for the victory, the Danish side roared back and began to threaten. After pushing Shay Given into quality save, Robinho sent the wood work rocking as he hit the goalpost with eight minutes remaining. Yet the home fans who sat bravely in the cold night were rewarded as Luton Shelton brought the match within one with five minutes remaining as the former Sheffield United man slammed in a close range effort. Pouring forward, the Danes were all over City and as time was winding down Ched Evans was called for hand ball in a decision that could have went either way. With the spot pointed to Michael Jakobsen stepped up and brought the match level.

Outplayed and seemingly ready to fall, City managed to shift the momentum away from the home side in extra-time and the match went to penalties. While Ched Evans, Elano, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Richard Dunne were perfect from the spot, Shay Given tuned aside the Danes twice and Mark Hughes and company booked a date to the UEFA Cup quarter-finals