Brave City go down fighting

City 2 - Hamburg 1 (Hamburg win 4-3 on aggregate)

CITY exited the UEFA Cup with their heads held high last night. They were unable to overturn a 1-3 first leg deficit despite winning the game at Eastlands 2-1.

City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak will have been heartened by the fine display by Mark Hughes' men on a night when Eastlands rocked to a full house of 47,009. Hughes revealed that he had met with the chairman, who had flown in from Abu Dhabi, prior to the game.

"It was a big night for everybody at the club." said Hughes. "When we can produce this performance regularly in the future we'll be a hard club to beat."

Hughes also reserved praise for the home support that had snapped up tickets at £5 a head.

"The atmosphere was outstanding, even at 10 men the crowd stayed behind us." he added.

Goals from Elano and Caicedo cancelled out an early opener by Paolo Guerrero in the 12th minute. Hamburg sliced through the City defence and Guerrero was put through by Ivica Olic to score a crucial away goal for the visitors.

Elano may consider himself to have been lucky to win a penalty just 4 minutes later when his attempted shot struck Piotr Trochowski's arm at point blank range. The Hamburg winger knew little about the Brazilian's effort but the Italian referee Nicola Rizzoli reignited the tie with a harsh decision to award the penalty which Elano himself dispatched to equalise on the night.

Harsh decision or not City continued to pile on the pressure throughout the game, especially during a 10 minute period at the start of the second half when Caicedo put City ahead on the night. The burly Ecuadorian striker took a deft pass from Steven Ireland, skipped past Jerome Boateng, and slotted the ball past Frank Rost to put City right back into the tie.

With a firm platform to build on and a tidal wave of noise from the home fans behind them City couldn't find the crucial third goal that they needed; and Lady Luck finally deserted Mark Hughes' men. Elano struck the woodwork twice from free kicks and Caicedo contrived to miss an open goal from six yards out and had a goal disallowed due to offside. City's efforts were also hampered by the late sending off of captain Richard Dunne for a second yellow card and a string of fine saves by Frank Rost in the Hamburg goal.

City, eight points ahead of third-from-bottom Newcastle, will break through the 40-point barrier if they win on Sunday, but Hughes is probably aiming much higher.

A strong finish to the season would propel City into the top 10 and put them in a positive frame of mind before the club’s anticipated summer spending spree.