Carling Cup – City 2 Villa 3
This should have been no contest. After all they had a virtually full-strength team, unbeaten in the Premiership this season and the Mighty Martin; we fielded a patched-up, injury – ravaged mid-table Championship side with as many regulars missing as playing. Yet we had a stirring game which went right to the wire with very little to choose between the sides and a crowd of over 27 000 certainly got their moneys-worth.
This was heralded as the night when the City faithful would pay tribute to arguably the best manager we have ever had but Martin was in no hurry to emerge from the tunnel and there was barely time for a decent round of applause before the game kicked off.
City dominated the first five minutes and then went a goal down in Villa's first attack. Agbonlahor got free in acres of space down the right by timing his run to perfection. The City defence, having been turned, was in disarray and Agbonlahor's low cross was tapped in by Angel as if on the training ground.
The City of not so long back would have buckled at this point but Kelly's men – and boys – rolled up their sleeves and gave as good as they got. We saw Welsh running at defenders and tackling aggressively and even Sylla, with some urging from the crowd, got stuck in. It was no more than we deserved when a shot from a left-wing corner was blocked but fell to Stearman who dispatched it past Taylor (he who was on loan here not long ago) with ease…..
Stearman does this rather well as he has quick feet, good balance and thinks quickly. All he needs is three square meals a day like all the players who emerge from City's Academy! Stearman was in fact making his debut as a central midfielder and all in all he made a decent job of it, only occasionally being caught out by the extra pace of the action in that part of the field.
Alongside Stearman was one of City's brightest young talents, James Wesolowski, which reminds me I must teach the Birch how to pronounce his name particularly if he tries to tell the crowd how it should be done! For me Wesolowski was our Man of the Match and his tireless harrying of their midfielders was all the more commendable given his lack of matches through injury. Our two youngsters did us proud in central midfield and were certainly a match for Villa's stars on the night.
As half-time loomed with City in the ascendancy came the first of three defensive errors which decided the outcome of this match. With seconds left a Villa throw was flicked on to the edge of City's area where three defenders surrounded one Villa player, Petrov. McAuley, who generally had a fine game, amazingly failed to control a simple ball that he would have cleared 99 times out of 100. This time it slipped under his feet and let Petrov past him. Reacting instinctively McAuley tugged him back as other defenders closed in. Referee Clattenburg correctly pointed to the spot but then failed to book McAuley for some reason. Barry, who did not look the answer to England's left-sided problems, scored with a well-placed shot, high to Henderson's left.
Many thought this was likely to be the defining moment and that City would find it hard to recover from such a self-inflicted body-blow. They were wrong.
City came out for the second half as if nothing had happened and again had the majority of the possession, though without creating any clear chances, although a wonderful run by Hume concluded with a shot from outside the box which narrowly missed the left post. Villa had one chance when a poor pass by Kisnorbo, who otherwise had an excellent game, let in Agbonlahor who miserably failed to hit the target.
It looked as though Villa would hang on but there were to be two more twists in the tale. City won a corner, taken by Sylla and met first-time by Kisnorbo whose downward header was pushed into the corner of the net by the despairing Taylor. 2-2 and game on!
Sylla made a point of letting the crowd know that he had played a part in the goal which only showed that he has not grasped the reason for the criticism he gets. So let me spell it out. We want him to move to the ball instead of standing still while an opponent runs 20 yards and steals it; we want him to run and run, not run and then have a 5-minute breather; we want him to make tackles or harry players, not play statues, when someone has the ball immediately in front of him. In fairness Sylla did far more of this than normal and I can see why Kelly has given him a second chance, particularly when the alternatives are considered (yes, I will be coming to Low in a minute).
At 2-2 with little time left on the clock we braced ourselves for extra time when, again, City gifted Villa a golden opportunity. Low, who had come on for Welsh after 67 minutes (a fateful error by Kelly as it turned out), stupidly lost the ball on halfway to Agbonlahor who raced clear as he had at the start of the game. His cross inevitably caused major chaos in City's defence and McAuley conceded penalty number two, this time being booked for his troubles.
From my vantage point at the other end of the ground the decision looked harsh and the crowd made their view plain to a referee whose performance deteriorated as the game went on. This was best illustrated later when Maybury was booked for commenting on the ludicrous award of a corner to Villa when the ball clearly came off their player. Always a bad sign when an official makes a wrong decision and then hides behind his authority. Anyway, Barry stepped up for his second free shot of the night and Henderson again went the right way – left – pushing the ball away to safety and ensuring extra time.
Both sides struggled to make much impact in extra time though Henderson, a hero on the night, made an excellent save from a shot from Petrov from no more than 10 yards. At this point history repeated itself for the third time when a City error moments before the end of extra time presented Villa with entry to the last 16.
A Villa attack faded as a long cross sailed harmlessly across City's goal. Henderson claimed the ball but Low, with no one other than the keeper within miles of him, inexplicably decided to volley the ball clear. He did no more than give it to Villa in a dangerous location. The ball was transferred to Agbonlahor whose close-range shot hit McAuley's back and deflected past Henderson for the decisive goal.
So we lost but we had seen a very close, competitive and exciting game which could have gone either way. Villa were less prone to silly defensive errors than City but that apart there was little to separate the teams. Martin would have been proud of our fighting spirit and the quality of our football, both very much in the O'Neill tradition. In the end perhaps Villa's greater strength in depth was the decisive factor as their subs made little difference but we were never the same after the substitutions were made.
Odhiambo showed little flashes of promise but this was not a game for a raw 17 year -old to be pitched into and Low made two shocking errors and contributed very little to the cause. Kenton played resolutely in his 20 minutes on the pitch.
Not very often I am cheerful after a defeat but this was the exception!
City: Henderson, Maybury*, McAuley*, Kisnorbo*, Johannsson, Sylla*(Kenton 101), Stearman, Wesolowski, Welsh (Low 67), Hume, Hammond (Odhiambo 76)
Villa: Taylor, Barry*, Ridgewell, Mellburg, Hughes, Davis (Agathe 91), Petrov, Osbourne (Bouma 107), Agbonlahor, Baros (Sutton 66), Angel
*Booked
The views expressed in this report are the opinions of the Trust member nominated to file the report only and do not represent the views of the Foxes Trust organisation