Brighton's Carling Cup hero Michel Kuipers relives Manchester City shock

Brighton hero Michel Kuipers dumped Manchester City's billionaires out of the Carling Cup - after fearing he was going to concede a hatful.

The former Dutch marine made a string of saves before the vital stop from Michael Ball in the penalty shoot-out.

The upset came 72 hours after City walloped Portsmouth 6-0.

Kuipers beamed: "To beat the richest club in the world is amazing. Ten times richer than Chelsea aren't they?

"At the weekend they put six past David James, the England goalkeeper.

"I thought, 'If they've given him a tough day it's going to be even tougher for us' but everybody did well.

"I was pretty confident I was going to save at least one or two penalties.

"With Ball's penalty, as I was airborne I said to myself, 'I am going to save this'. And as soon as I touched the ball, it was the best feeling."

Matt Richards then tucked away the clincher for Brighton to win the shoot-out 5-3.

Richards said: "I don't think they were quite at the races but we deserved to win."

Brighton, who had not won at the Withdean this season until City's slip-up, now face Derby in the third round.

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