Owen Hargreaves made a dream debut for Manchester City as the injury-plagued midfielder scored the opening goal in his side's 2-0 victory over holders Birmingham in the third round of the League Cup on Wednesday.
Hargreaves was making his first appearance for City after being released by their bitter rivals Manchester United at the end of last season following a series of knee injuries over the last three years.
The 30-year-old, who had managed just six minutes of action since September 2008, took just 17 minutes to mark his return in style as he smashed a fine long-range strike past Birmingham goalkeeper Colin Doyle for his first goal since April 2008.
He eventually completed 57 minutes before departing to a standing ovation from the City fans after being substituted to avoid provoking any muscle problems in his first prolonged outing for three years.
Mario Balotelli got the second goal for City before half-time as Roberto Mancini's side cruised through.
When Hargreaves released a video on YouTube during the summer of him being put through his paces tied to a treadmill, it seemed like the last act of a desperate man attempting to revive his career.
It turned out to be a masterstroke.
Interest was generated, with West Brom eager to seal a deal, and that in turn led to Mancini making his move as the transfer deadline approached, with City clearly not in a position to secure all the midfield targets they were after.
Hargreaves' perfect strike opened the scoring and City were never in trouble after that.
With Carlos Tevez dropping deep, Balotelli was the focal point of City's attack and when Aleksandar Kolarov crossed from the left seven minutes before the interval, the former Inter Milan man neatly swept home his first goal of the season.
It was a good night all round for City as Kolo Toure also made his comeback after serving a six-month ban for a failed drugs test.
Toure made his mark too, being perfectly placed to clear off the line after Romanian goalkeeper Costel Pantilimon had dropped Jean Beausejour's free-kick, offering Curtis Davies the chance to send an overhead kick towards City's otherwise empty goal.
It was Birmingham's only attack in their first game in this competition since they stunned Arsenal in last season's final.
Source: AFP
