City do it the hard way

2:38am Friday 29th August 2008

Manchester City had goalkeeper Joe Hart to thank as they progressed to the UEFA Cup proper with a penalty shoot-out victory over FC Midtjylland.

Having lost 1-0 in the first leg at Eastlands earlier this month, City knew the size of the task ahead in their second qualifying round return leg at the SAS Arena in Herning.

But after an abject display in normal time it was only an own goal by defender Danny Califf in the 89th minute which forced extra-time and extended their interest in the competition. And when Hart saved two penalties, it was left to Vedran Corluka to stroke home the kick to spare City's blushes.

Hart was needed to keep the tie alive in the seventh minute however as Jonas Borring beat the offside trap and 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.

The goal City craved so desperately came from nothing in the 89th minute when Ched Evans failed to properly connect with Ball's cross and the ball was deflected past despairing goalkeeper Lasse Heinze by defender Califf.

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 Martin Petrov converted his but after Winston Reid and Christopher Poulsen also scored, Michael Johnson saw Heinze dive to save his spot-kick.

Borring also saw his saved, however, before Dietmar 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.

Editors Choice