West Brom 2-1 Manchester City: City blow another trophy chance

Bang goes one route to Wembley for Roberto Mancini - frittered away with £68 million worth warming the bench.

At £20 a pop, West Brom and City manager Mancini served up the most expensive reserve team fixture in history at the Hawthorns last night.

Mancini and his counterpart Roberto Di Matteo did exactly what it said on the tin. We wuz Rob-bed.

Albion full-back Nicky Shorey was the only survivor, on either side, of the 22 players who started in the Premier League last weekend.

So instead of City's expensive galacticos, all we got was strangers in the night - but Mancini insisted he had no regrets, blustering: "I'm disappointed we lost, but I'm happy because I played six young players and I could not have done any different. If we want these guys to improve, we have to give them a chance.

"We play Chelsea on Saturday, I have only three fit defenders at the moment and I could not take any risks. And we still have a chance to win the FA Cup and the Europa League."

Sorry, Signor, but that's molto bunko. Those who believe the Carling Cup has become the poor relation of English football, held in contempt by managers paying it lip service, were not just given more ammunition by the two Robertos - they were handed the keys to the whole munitions depot.

Baggies boss Di Matteo, preoccupied with breaking West Brom's cycle as a yo-yo club between the top flight and the Championship, we can forgive to some extent. His parishioners saw this charade coming and stayed away in droves. Only 10,418 bothered to turn up, although they did see a rollicking finish.

But what of City, 34 years without a trophy and counting? Normally they play reserve team games at Hyde, so they were breaking new territory.

Even the neighbours from up the Mancunian Way took the Carling Cup seriously enough last season to win it, and were grateful for the small mercy of one pot at the end of a campaign which promised more.

City have spent £260 million on new players since the Blue Moon was drizzled with crude oil, but still Mancini managed to send out a team containing four debutants who are barely household names in their own households.

One day, we may come to appreciate the talents of Ben Mee, Javan Vidal, John Guidetti and Greg Cunningham, and to acknowledge Mancini's sudden conversion to youthful exuberance ahead of mercenaries on top dollar.

But as City's noisy, and substantial, travelling support gave their unqualified backing to Mancini's Lucky Dip XI, only Shay Given's enduring safe hands saved them from a heavier defeat.

Given, cruelly marginalised by Joe Hart's emergence as England's No.1, pulled off a string of excellent saves to deny livewire Cameroon international Somen Tchoyi, Roman Bednar and Giles Barnes.

Just as it was a travesty when Brazilian striker Jo's 20-yard shot squeezed under Boaz Myhill to give City an undeserved half-time lead, justice was done when Gianni Zuiverloon and Simon Cox struck in the space of two minutes after the restart.

Too little, too late, Mancini threw on James Milner and David Silva - £50 million worth of bench-warmers - and it took Myhill's superb one-handed stop to deny City extra time.

West Brom: Myhill 5, Zuiverloon 6, Ibanez 6, Meite 5, Shorey 7 (Jara, 67), Reid 6, Barnes 7, Tchoyi 8, Dorrans 9, Bednar 5 (Fortune, 83), Cox 6.

Man City: Given 8, Vidal 5 (Zabaleta, 54), Boyata 6, Cunningham 6, Mee 6, Ibrahim 6 (Milner, 71), Vieira 7, Johnson 6, Guidetti 5, Santa Cruz 4 (Silva, 81), Jo 7.

Man of the Match: Graham Dorrans (West Brom)