Manchester City scraped to the next round in the UEFA Cup after a dramatic penalty shoot-out victory against Danish outfit Midtyjlland. City scored in the dying seconds of normal time when Danny Califf put the ball in his own net to force extra-time. There were n goals there but Joe Hart was the hero in the penalties, saving two of them and securing City a hardly deserved overall success.

Midtylland were unchanged compared to the first leg with Jude Nworuh again getting the nod up front. Mark Hughes was able to field Brazilian record signing Jo up front after his return from the Olympics and he spearheaded the visitors' attack. Micah Richards recovered from a concussion to start in central midfield while Richard Dunne partnered Tal Ben-Haim at the heart of defence.

The game started as slow pace and City looked unable to force some early pressure. Instead, they could have easily gone behind but Jonas Borring fired wide of the mark after being left unmarked. He also sent a thundering effort just wide of the mark as the game continued to swing into the hosts' favour. City only had a couple of efforts by Elano Blumer and Martin Petrov but both times Lasse Heinze was up to the task and saved with ease.

The second half was even more frustrating for the visitors who were unable to find a way past the packed home defence. Only tame efforts from distance were showing any signs of ambition by a flat City side. On the other hand, the hosts were posing a serious threat on the break and sub Babajide Collins Babatunde missed a succession of chances midway through the second half. He first fired a low drive just wide of the mark after losing his man. Then headed over from a great position after a decent cross by Mikel Thygesen set him up. The final chance was the easiest one to convert but the striker shot straight at the keeper when clear. These misses cost the hosts dear as they were denied an aggregate victory in a desperately unfortunate way. The clock was ticking down as City were staring a Euro exit in the face when a cross from the left by Michael Ball was headed in by Ched Evans but Califf made the decisive touch to leave the keeper on the wrong end.

City had the better of the half an hour of extra time and went close on a couple of occasions. Evans headed wide from a great position after some good work by Stephen Ireland set him up. Daniel Sturridge came even closer with a low drive that cannoned off the underside of the bar. The game went into penalties where Hart took centre stage by superbly saving efforts from Borring and Kolja Afriye. Vedran Corluka scored the decisive one and City somehow made it through the next round.

Midtjylland will consider themselves very unlucky to have lost a game that was in their hands for most of the time. However, they paid a heavy price for their profligacy. City had a massive escape and Hughes knows that his men must do much better in the upcoming games iof they are to progress in the competition.