Carling Cup - City humbled by Brighton

Eurosport - Thu, 25 Sep 10:09:00 2008

Michel Kuipers' save from Michael Ball landed a huge shock for Brighton as they defeated Manchester City 5-3 on penalties in the Carling Cup.

FOOTBALL Brighton and Hove celebrate against Manchester City Carling Cup 2008 GETTY IMAGES - 0

The League One outfit forced extra-time at the Withdean Stadium after a 1-1 draw and were ahead in the extra period before finally reaching the third round of the competition on spot-kicks - and a home tie against Derby.

Gelson Fernandes had finally taken a chance for wasteful City in the 64th minute from Jo's pass and it looked enough to win it until Glenn Murray slotted an 89th-minute Brighton equaliser.

The shocked looked on when on-loan substitute Joe Anyinsah lashed them ahead five minutes into extra-time but Stephen Ireland's reply 10 minutes later forced the shoot-out.

Excited fans in a record home crowd of 8,729 flooded the pitch at the end after Matt Richards put away the winner from the spot.

But in this classic triumph for poor over rich Brighton's heroes were multiple with Dave Livermore, Tommy Elphick, Glenn Murray and Adam Virgo all scored in the shoot-out before Kuipers' masterful stop.

In their first public appearance since being anointed the "richest club in the world" by the £200million Abu Dhabi United Group's takeover, City sent out six players who started Sunday's 6-0 demolition of Portsmouth.

But they took a long time to impose themselves on the battling League One side, who had won only once at home this season and lost to a Walsall team reduced to nine men before half-time on Saturday.

The nearest thing to a goal in the first half came when Brighton's stand-in captain Steve Thomson, wearing the armband in the absence of injured top scorer Nicky Forster, sliced through the centre of City's defence and drilled his shot against Kasper Schmeichel's left-hand post.

Earlier it had taken 13 minutes for City to muster a shot on goal, with Jo barely testing Kuipers from 25 yards.

The Brazilian striker struggled for long periods, needed treatment after a hefty challenge by Matt Richards and was slow off the mark to a 33rd-minute through-ball which Kuipers came out to collect.

Ball was City's saviour in the 27th minute when the dangerous Thomson burst through onto a low ball which the defender had to hook away.

But City finally got going and Kuipers had to be quick off his line to deny Daniel Sturridge before the visitors wasted a golden chance to go ahead soon afterwards.

Ireland's corner from the right found Richard Dunne rising head and shoulders above all challengers but he steered his header over the crossbar.

Brighton bridged the gap in class with their commitment and work-rate, closing down smartly and preventing any real flow to the City attacks.

City, though, spurned another inviting opening four minutes before the break when Jo set up Pablo Zabaleta to lay off for Johnson but the midfielder's shot skewered wide of the target.

Swiss star Fernandes looked like he had won it when driving in Jo's unselfish assist in the 64th minute and they could have had more but for Kuipers' saves from Jo and Ched Evans before Murray came up with a stunning 89th-minute equaliser after Schmeichel could only parry Thomson's shot.

City had been warned when Schmeichel had to race off his line three minutes earlier to deny Murray.

But they were still strolling five minutes into extra time when Anyinsah fired home in style from 12 yards after great work by fellow substitute Dean Cox.

The loan signing from Preston had the chance to seal it in the first half of extra time, breaking clear only to be overhauled by a desperate Dunne.

And it could have proved costly when Ireland out-fought Elphick and Kuipers to lash home a long ball for a 109th-minute equaliser.

The glory, though, was all Brighton's in the end.

TeamTalk / Eurosport

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  1. How Thick are the Munes??, i don't think the penny­ has dropped or they have realised just yet that­ everytime they take a trip to the local garage and fill­ up their motors, they are plowing a good percentage of­ their fuel bill into richest Football club in the land­ and all the world, "Thanks Scum!!" yet more­ money towards the best players on the planet.

    ­ "Manchester is a Beautiful City",
    ­ "So wonderful and true",
    "Manchester­ hates all things RED",
    "Coz Manchester is­ BLUE".

    City til' i die........

    From Billy, on Sat 27 Sep 1:37AM

  2. Man city will be a big club just like Newcastle only in­ their fans eyes!!

    From tc, on Thu 25 Sep 2:34PM

  3. Well Mr johnnywyns/satelliteman or whatever else aka, I­ have read your e mail contribution but have yet to­ decipher what the heck you are babbling about! If you­ are a Man City fan - fine: as I said so was my late­ dad! In cup matches strange results happen - it­ doesn't go to form! I hope that Man City learn from­ their defeat and come back better and wiser. What I am­ saying is blinding commonsense - you cannot win­ everything all the time but you sure can fool most of­ the people all the time (Abraham Lincoln about 1863)!

    From jonathan g, on Thu 25 Sep 1:25PM

  4. Well mr king of babble,
    I am babbling about­ insular,arrogant people like yourselves who know a lot­ about nothing and use terms like "tribal" but­ who are too ignorant to accept anyone elses comment­ albeit slightly off the singular fukin football topic.

    From , on Thu 25 Sep 1:05PM

  5. To johnnywyns, at least Ian I was being honest enough­ to admit to being a wind up merchant: but what on earth­ are you babling about. I am not even a Man City fan!­ (my father was in the 40's and 50's) when fans­ were really knowledgeable about their own teams but­ could at least appreciate fantastic football played by­ other teams!! There have been many "Giant­ Killing" results in the FA Cup and to a lesser­ extent in the Carling/ Coca-Cola/Milk Cup. The world­ doesn't come to an end because your team lost a­ match? I happen to support since Munich 1958 a team­ that was built on playing attacking football. I wish­ that Man City have a team that soon matches the skill­ and passion of the Bell, Lee and Summerbee era. Until­ then, a little bit of realism would not come amiss.

    From jonathan g, on Thu 25 Sep 12:50PM

  6. You're the best Ian I, CTID

    From Chris W, on Thu 25 Sep 12:50PM

  7. i love winding city fans up throw in the bait instant­ bite dead­ easy.
    united,united,united,united,united,united

    From ian l, on Thu 25 Sep 12:22PM

  8. the next world force more like the next world farce.

    From ian l, on Thu 25 Sep 12:19PM

  9. A cup game is a "one off" match where 11­ players who "on paper" are inferior to a more­ illustrious team can still beat "the supposed­ better team" by playing to their full potentila­ with pride and passion. It has happened many times in­ the FA Cup; which makes for an exciting match. However,­ over a full season of matches say 38; normally the best­ team wins the league! Too much has been made of­ City's defeat by illiterate football fans who are­ too tribal! Get a life! There is a "real"­ harsh world out there people are loosing their jobs and­ finding it harder to pay their heating, food and­ mortgages!!

    From jonathan g, on Thu 25 Sep 12:02PM

  10. Polar bears are great,i am from Outer Mongolia,and it­ is great to fly and role on the iceberg,and beat the­ bigger clubs.I am singing my identity via forum­ blagging,hula hula,Ipswich town.

    From , on Thu 25 Sep 11:30AM

  11. oh well upsets happen
    no need to worry manc should aim­ for top6 this year its time hasnt come yet

    From chicken salad, on Thu 25 Sep 11:23AM

  12. seagulls are wonderful.i am a tunisian fan of BHAFC,­ supported the team for many years the result should­ give a booste to the club on the road to promotion and­ to the final.
    for man city it is coming down to earth­ even though they never did fly and want them to be­ succesful and be a big club and beat the likes of mu­ and co

    From gamin_dusouk, on Thu 25 Sep 11:04AM

  13. Jamie O.... you aren't even funny. We may as well­ add those 6 points onto our total now before we even­ play UTD twice. Lots of nose bleeds going on down there­ in the dizzy heights of 15th place?

    From mainerdmauler, on Thu 25 Sep 10:50AM

  14. ALWAYS remember the long ball

    From mark.wishart, on Thu 25 Sep 10:18AM

  15. To Omser: Wasn't Mark Hughes a Man Utd player­ (twice) before he became Man City's current­ manager? I worry that Man City might yet become another­ "Real Madrid" with a team of overpaid­ gallactios - overpaid mercenaries who have little or no­ passion or pride for their team other than their wages!­ The Carling Cup is no longer a big deal but it could­ have been used by Mark Hughes to give some youngsters­ their chance like Arsen Wenger has just done and Alex­ Ferguson did many years ago!

    From jonathan g, on Thu 25 Sep 10:07AM

  16. City losers. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha etc.....

    Richest­ club in the world = Pile of @#$%.

    You cant polish a­ turd

    From Jamie, on Thu 25 Sep 10:03AM

  17. I'm a man city fan and all i can say is the team we­ put out could have won most premiership teams. So fair­ play to Brighton and i wish them every success in the­ future.

    From blueunit1701, on Thu 25 Sep 9:55AM

  18. If you had noticed, we left most of the money at home.­ All you Man U can thank an ex Man City player for where­ you are today "Sir Matt" !...

    From Omser, on Thu 25 Sep 9:52AM

  19. All you doubters laugh while you can Manchester city­ will have the last laugh

    From oodled, on Thu 25 Sep 9:46AM

  20. Remember, It took an ex Man City player to lay the­ foundations for the team supporters United have today­ "Sir Matt" !!

    From Omser, on Thu 25 Sep 9:40AM
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