Goals from Carlos Tevez, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Vladimir Weiss put Man City into the Carling Cup semi-final at the expense of Arsenal.
Tevez, Wright-Phillips and Weiss goals put City into semis
Second-half strikes from Carlos Tevez, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Vladimir Weiss put Manchester City into their first semi-final since 1981 at the expense of Arsenal.
Craig Bellamy had the best chance of the first period in what was an entertaining Carling Cup quarter-final, but his shot from 12 yards went wide of Lukasz Fabianski's right post.
But Tevez made no mistake five minutes after the re-start with a great strike off the crossbar.
Wright-Phillips then doubled the advantage on 69 minutes when he ran from near the halfway line to just inside the box before hitting a rocket into the top corner across Fabianski.
Substitute Weiss then added a third with a minute to go from close range after a great run and cross from Bellamy on the left.
Arsenal's Fran Merida hit the crossbar with a long range effort in stoppage time but Arsene Wenger's young side could find no way through as City maintained the dream of ending their 33-year trophy drought.
The draw afterwards handed City a mouth-watering clash with rivals Man United, whom Tevez scored four goals for 12 months ago as the Red Devils romped past Blackburn on the way to providing the South American with a winners' medal at Wembley.
Yet his presence in Sir Alex Ferguson's side that day emphasised that he was not part of the best United team, a fact that became more obvious as the season wore on.
The outcome was a controversial move across town to City, whose supporters initially gloried in the capture of a man Ferguson had tried to keep.
However, that enthusiasm - and the infamous "Welcome to Manchester" poster - has given way to a more sceptical view as City's season has headed downhill.
Hustle
Yet even if the hustle and bustle can sometimes have no meaningful end product, Tevez remains a difficult man to subdue.
And when he nicked the ball away from Tomas Rosicky and played a one-two with Bellamy, Tevez embarked on a crab-like run across the box before pulling the trigger on a shot that crashed in off the underside of the bar.
City's long-suffering fans were ecstatic. And they had even more to celebrate 19 minutes later when Wright-Phillips collected Kolo Toure's short pass and galloped at Mikael Silvestre, who failed to get tight enough.
It was an open invitation to shoot and the little England winger obliged, Fabianski again left clutching at air, with absolutely no hope of getting near the ball.
For Hughes and his City team, the pressure valve applied by seven straight Premier League draws has been released, until next month's semi-final against United at least.
It has been a very bad week for Wenger. He might argue that this defeat is not on the same scale as Sunday's hammering by Chelsea.
But after four years without a trophy, the Gunners are desperate for some - any - silverware. And they are not getting this.
In fact, no matter what the respective managers might have said beforehand, there were a few clues as to how important this match was to the general well-being of both clubs.
City fans are never normally short of an excuse to get behind their team.
But by turning out the lights five minutes before kick-off to display a massive blue moon that was superimposed on the stand opposite the players' tunnel, the hosts ensured the noise level was at its maximum as the game began.
Determined
They had lost out on their nine most recent attempts to reach cup semi-finals, and were determined it would be different this time.
Then, towards the end of the half, Hughes and Wenger, who had watched virtually the entire contest next to the touchline, exchanged angry words after the City chief had encroached into the Arsenal technical area to retrieve a ball he felt had not been returned quickly enough.
The sight of Bellamy berating referee Chris Foy as they made their way back into the dressing rooms was more predictable.
But, with both teams appealing for everything even marginally debatable, it provided an indication of the desperate need for victory.
As Hughes astutely observed on Tuesday, Arsenal's Carling Cup team is not quite the youthful XI Wenger would have us believe.
The frantic first half was full of meaty challenges and plenty of thrills, even if clear-cut chances were few and far between.
Bellamy had the best one, set up by Wright-Phillips, whose pace was a constant threat.
The Welshman, preferred to record signing Robinho, could only drag his shot wide, which hinted at a night of frustration for City and Emmanuel Adebayor, picked to face the Gunners for the first-time since that stormy affair back in September.
But Tevez changed the course of history and ended so many years of last-eight misery.
Weiss popped up to tap home a third in the final minute, but long before that a whole generation of City fans were expectantly looking ahead to that long-awaited semi-final.
