Pre match: As expected, Richard Dunne and SWP were in the starting XI, with Kompany partnering Zabaleta in midfield. Richards & Robinho shook off their injury worries and also started.
There was a familiar face on the hosts’ bench, with Niclas Jensen coming up against his old club. The hosts also made a nice gesture by playing ‘Blue Moon’ over the PA, which the 1,800 or so City fans, encamped above the press box, singing along to it lustily. Following that it was air guitars-aloft to Guns n’Roses and ‘Welcome to the jungle’!
The Match
There was a crackling atmosphere at kick-off, with the snow drifting down adding to an already surreal scene with the mural behind one end. The first action of the game came in the first minute, with Almeida going down in the box, but the referee ignored the pleas for a penalty, most of which came from the stands.
Craig Bellamy was caught offside on three occasions early on, but the first real alarm came after 14 minutes when Shay Given dropped a corner that had looped over from the near side. Thankfully no-one from the home side could capitalise and the danger was cleared.
Kvist’s header on 22 minutes was Copenhagen’s best chance so far, but Given collected it easily. City were straight down to the other end and carving out their best opportunity, Robinho threading the ball through to SWP, whose shot was stopped by the legs of keeper Christiansen. Three minutes later Kvist chanced his arm from long range but he could only fire the ball a long way over the bar.
But a quiet game burst into life on 29 minutes when City scored through the most unlikely of sources. We won the ball back from a free kick, and Ireland looked up to find Nedum Onuoha, still up the pitch from the set-piece. With Bellamy free in the middle, the defender chose to shoot straight at Christiansen, but the home keeper made a compete hash of it and the ball rolled gently over the line! Nedum celebrated just his second senior goal by wittily thanking the fans on the mural behind the goal.
The crucial away goal inspired the team, who went close on 33 minutes when Stephen Ireland was just short of getting a foot to a deflected Bellamy free kick. The ‘Istanbul we are coming’ chant was also getting several airings at this point.
Fine work by Bellamy on the right ended with a cross that Christiansen punched out as far as Zabaleta, and the Argentinean’s shot a second later curled safely back to the home keeper. As we entered stoppage time, the defender-turned-midfielder raced in on goal from the right but put his shot wide of the near post.
A half-time airing of ‘Wonderwall’ roused the City fans even more, and within seconds of the restart SWP’s mazy run into the box ended with Christiansen saving the shot from a tight angle. Six minutes later a shot from Ireland struck Robinho, who could not control the rebound.
The home side had been so ineffective for such a long time that their equaliser on 56 minutes came as a real shock. Kristensen swung in a corner from the far side, and Ailton Almeida’s powerful header flew in past Given low to his right.
But City’s heads did not drop and five minutes later we were back in the lead! Determined work from SWP in the corner ended with him crossing the ball through Hutchinson’s legs straight to Stephen Ireland, who drilled the ball home first time for the 10th goal of his superb season.
Copenhagen dominated for a long spell, but the best chance they had ended when Dunne made a perfectly-timed challenge on Almeida. Robinho had the chance to make it three when he broke away on 82 minutes, but his shot went straight at Christiansen, who this time did not make a mistake. The home keeper made a better save to deny SWP with six minutes left, diving low to his right to parry the shot from eight yards out.
Three minutes were added on, and in the first the home side restored parity to take the gloss off a good night for City. N’Doye crossed from the right, and Martin Vingaard, unmarked in the area, headed the ball home.
That was the last real action of an entertaining match, a disappointing end for City but two away goals give us an advantage going into what should be a cracker at CoMS next Thursday.
