Man City scraped into the first round of the Uefa Cup after a 4-2 penalty shoot-out win over FC Midtjylland.
Hart and Corluka the heroes for City
Manchester City scraped into the first round of the Uefa Cup after a 4-2 penalty shoot-out win over FC Midtjylland, following a 1-0 victory in Denmark.
Vedran Corluka scored the winning penalty to give City the win after Joe Hart saved two of FC Midtjylland's five penalties in the shoot-out.
Trailing 1-0 from the first leg City looked like heading out until they were gifted a route back into the game in the final minute, when Danny Califf headed into his own net to level up the aggregate scores.
Neither side could find a winner in extra-time, forcing the game into the dreaded penalty shoot-out and City held their nerve to secure the win.
The win means City go into Friday's draw for the first round of the Uefa Cup proper.
SWP boost
City were boosted before kick-off by Micah Richards' rapid recovery from concussion and also by the signing of Shaun Wright-Phillips from Chelsea.
A sixth-minute Elano corner was only partially cleared, allowing Martin Petrov to hook the ball back into the area but Stephen Ireland fired wide on the half-volley as City looked to score the early goal.
Barely a minute later they needed goalkeeper Hart to keep the tie alive however. When Jonas Borring beat the offside trap he looked set to double his side's aggregate lead, only for the England Under-21 international to make a smart save.
While Jo and Elano saw speculative shots fail miserably Borring, the Danes' chief playmaker, was proving to be more effective and had another well-struck shot comfortably saved by Hart.
First-leg goalscorer Danny Olsen had the best chance of the match up to that point when he moved to side-foot home Borring's low centre in the 28th minute, only to be denied by an excellent sliding block by left-back Michael Ball.
City continued to labour, devoid of creative ideas, until Jo headed out to the left flank and forced Midtjylland to scramble his cross clear, while Petrov fired in an effort from an acute angle which Lasse Heinze got down well to save two minutes before the break.
Jo ineffective
City won a corner early in the second half when Jo was beaten to a header and from the resulting set-piece, Richards' header was blocked before Petrov's shot was similarly turned away.
Hughes sent on Dietmar Hamann and Daniel Sturridge for Tal Ben-Haim and Elano shortly before the hour mark with Richards moving into central defence.
Hart was forced into action to clear the danger on the edge of his area after Mikkel Thygesen found himself through on goal beyond the flat-footed City defence.
Substitute Collins almost made an immediate impact with a glanced header but saw his effort fly narrowly wide of the far post only for two more dangerous chances to also go to waste.
Ched Evans was sent on for the ineffective Jo and soon had an impact. The goal City craved so desperately came from nothing in the 89th minute when Evans failed to properly connect with Ball's cross and the ball was deflected past despairing goalkeeper Heinze by defender Califf.
Extra-time began without incident until the 96th minute, when Sturridge expertly put Michael Johnson through on goal only for the midfielder to see his effort saved by the advancing Heinze. When the ball was crossed back into the area, Ireland could not head on target.
Sturridge lively
Sturridge was looking lively and struck the bar in the 103rd minute after receiving the ball on the right following Hamann's brilliant tackle outside the Midtjylland area.
In the second half Gheorge Florescu struck a powerful shot but Hart got down to hold on to the ball while Johnson fired just wide five minutes later.
Hart was forced to tip the ball over the bar when substitute Frank Kristensen shot on the turn in the 117th minute but penalties beckoned when neither side produced a winning goal.
Evans took the first penalty and scored while Petrov converted his but after Winston Reid and Christopher Poulsen also scored, Johnson saw Heinze dive to save his spot-kick.
Borring also saw his saved, however, before Hamann's kick beat the goalkeeper. Hart then gave his side the advantage when Kolja Afriyie had his kick saved and Corluka converted his kick to send Hughes' side through.
| FC Midtjylland |
Team Statistics |
Manchester City |
| 0 |
Goals |
1 |
| 0 |
1st Half Goals |
0 |
| 5 |
Shots on Target |
4 |
| 8 |
Shots off Target |
11 |
| 2 |
Blocked Shots |
4 |
| 5 |
Corners |
5 |
| 18 |
Fouls |
19 |
| 4 |
Offsides |
2 |
| 1 |
Yellow Cards |
2 |
| 0 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 67.1 |
Passing Success |
73.7 |
| 42 |
Tackles |
38 |
| 73.8 |
Tackles Success |
73.7 |
| 48.2 |
Possession |
51.8 |
| 48 |
Territorial Advantage |
52 |
|
