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With all that is going on with Manchester City at the moment it was not totally surprising that we were going to have an upset against this Danish side who are top of their league and full of confidence. It is one of the dangers of these early qualifying rounds that while some clubs may be well into their season others are not quite ready. One hopes that City will be ready for Sundays game against Villa. Last night we could have played until midnight and not scored. Too often City start the game much too leisurely instead of going for the jugular straight away. The visitors took the initiative and though City improved second half it was a generally poor performance with some players not chasing and harrying opponents while a lack of urgency in the final third was noticeable throughout. Apart from Richards, Hart and Petrov and the occasional sparkle by Sturridge there were few positives for Manager Hughes who was not having the best of weeks. The recent transfer issues with Corluka and Ireland and financial concerns are not ideal preparation for a new season and there is an urgent requirement to boost the squad. It is going to be difficult to turn this tie round in a couple of weeks but at least the players will have had more match practice and one hopes will be more up for it!

A posse of photographers wait for the teams to emerge from the tunnel

There was the return of Corluka after the transfer episode and Caicedo partnered Sturridge up front.

With the closure of the third tier I was in the Colin Bell stand for a change and it is not often I get to see the line up from the front!

It was a fair indication of what we was to follow when the match ball was rejected and initially a substitute could not be found.The pawn shop not open!

The visitors looked the more dangerous in the early stages and in the 9th minute Florescu had a chance but his shot flew well over the bar

However after 15 minutes a mistake by Richard Dunne let in Thygesen who played it to Olsen.......

.....who let fly from the edge of the area and easily beat Hart to give the visitors a shock lead!

Five minutes later and Petrov almost equalized. He forced his way past defenders but his finish was just wide.

The visitors were playing with confidence and Hart had to be quick to drop on the ball in one of their breakaways

Near the half hour mark Sturridge had a half chance following a Petrov run but he scuffed his shot badly

Sturridge shoots wide following a pass by Fernandes

Florescu earned the first yellow card of the game by flooring Corluka after 36 minutes The referee is Babek Rafati from Germany

Manager Mark Hughes tries to motivate his players

As setting sun's rays hit the empty third tier occupied by a lone tv cameraman the sparse crowd (officially 17000 but looked about 12000 to me) were generally quiet and subdued

Just before half time Sturridge was unlucky to see his shot hit the bar and rebound to safety

Just before the second half started the ball boys had a chance to play in goal as a couple of the visitors had some shooting practice while waiting for the City players to return.

Caicedo rarely looked like the striker we were hoping for. I doubt he will feature in many games once the striking positions have been filled

A good late tackle stops a Petrov dash down the wing

There were only a small band of visiting supporters but they made their presence felt throughout the game

Moonbeam waits to have her picture taken with a supporter

Johnson tangles with Heinze

We seem to rely too much on Petrov for our goal attempts and he went near on a few occasions ,once hitting the post.

The introduction of Bojinov was delayed until the 60th minute-presumably to rest him for Sundays's game with Villa.

Fernandes continues to improve as a defensive midfielder but we badly need more creativity in the last third

Petrov is about to do his stuff as a defender when he saved on the line at this corner

Hart makes a comfortable catch watched by substitute Collins

Bojinov had few chances to shine in the last 30 minutes

It could have been a lot worse for City. A good save by Joe Hart in the dying seconds prevented Florescu from killing off the tie .

The visitors took the ball to the corners as the last minutes ticked by to prevent City from scoring as equalizer.

A long kick by Dunne almost caught Midtjylland napping as Bojinov just failed to make contact

City clear a corner with difficulty

A cross from the left just evades Hart and a striker but the whistle had gone for offside