MAN CITY 3, FC TWENTE 2: Hughes looks to tighten up

AFTER scraping past opponents from the Faroe Islands, Denmark and Cyprus in the qualifying rounds, Manchester City kicked off their group phase in the UEFA Cup with another unconvincing victory, this time against Dutch side FC Twente.

It was another patchy performance from City - there were flashes of attacking brilliance at Eastlands but also moments of defensive madness - as they made a winning start with goals from Shaun Wright-Phillips, Robinho and Benjani.

But there was no happy Manchester homecoming for former England manager Steve McClaren, now the FC Twente coach, who enjoyed so much success across the city at Old Trafford.

McClaren was taunted throughout over his failure as manager of the national team to qualify for the finals of Euro 2008, but he saw his side give a decent account of itself in a highly entertaining match.

While City manager Mark Hughes welcomed the win after a recent poor run of results, he acknowledged there is still plenty of scope for improvement, especially defensively.

Hughes said: “We have so many attack-minded players at the club and the danger is that we leave ourselves open at the back.

“There was a point with about six minutes to go when we had five guys trying to get into their box when we should have been seeing it out.”

Wright-Phillips handed City a dream start, breaking the deadlock after two minutes when he traded passes with fit -again Brazilian striker Jo.

But the Dutch side was back on level terms in the 17th minute thanks to Eljero Elia as City hesistated believing Pablo Zableta had been fouled.

After carving out a number of decent openings early in the second half, it was no surprise when City regained the lead in the 57th minute after a truly wonderful strike from Robinho from the left edge of the area.

And it got even better as City added a third goal five minutes later when a shot from substitute Benjani took a wicked deflection to leave keeper Boschker wrong-footed.

But if City thought victory was a foregone conclusion they were mistaken as FC Twente captain Robbie Wielaert stole in front of Richard Dunne to find the net with a glancing header from a corner.

And they ought to have been on level terms as substitute Stein Huysegems twice wasted great chances.