Manchester City Football Club News

• Nickname:Sky Blues
• Founded:1887
• Manager:Roberto Mancini

• Ground:City of Manchester Stadium
• Capacity:48,000

City shock upsets Hughes

25 Sep 2008 - 08:05:54

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Manchester City manager Mark Hughes refused to blame the absence of new signings Robinho and Shaun Wright-Phillips for his side's Carling Cup exit at the hands of Brighton.

The Citizens, who on Tuesday were confirmed as the richest club in the world following their takeover by the Abu Dhabi United Group, were taken to extra-time by the League One side before losing on penalties.

The game had gone into extra time after Glenn Murray cancelled out Gelson Fernandes' opener with an 89th minute equaliser for the home side.

Brighton substitute Joe Anyinsah and Stephen Ireland traded goals before a City side, which started with six of the line-up which thrashed Portsmouth 6-0 in the Premier League on Sunday, lost 5-3 on penalties.

"We had a strong enough team out there to have won this game and I thought we looked very comfortable in the second half of normal time," said Hughes.

"We missed chances but should have been professional enough to have seen it through to the end once we had the lead.

"We were not able to do that and after we fell behind we were chasing the game. When it gets to penalties it can go either way.

"We are obviously disappointed to go out of any competition but at least tonight was an opportunity to see some of the players who need game-time.

"That need was evident at times but credit to Brighton for harrying and chasing everything down.

"We've still lots of games to face and I'm sure there will be many highs and lows to face. We can't dwell on this too long.

"The game should have been ours and of course there is a lot of focus on us now but there will be ups and downs for the foreseeable future."