City sunk by away goal as stars fire blanks in Poland

Groclin - 0 Manchester City - 0 Kevin Keegan refused to condemn his Manchester City side after they crashed out of the UEFA Cup yesterday at the hands of Polish side Groclin.Nicolas Anelka and Robbie Fowler both squandered good chances to seal victory against a team occupying fifth place in the Polish first division.

Instead the Poles from a town of 12,000 people advanced to the third round and added City to their list of scalps after Hertha Berlin following yesterday's 0-0 draw.

That took them through on the away goals rule, with Sebastian Milla's equaliser in the first leg proving crucial.

Anelka had opened the scoring in that game and Keegan expected them to kick on but now their European adventure is over after victories against Wales's TNS and Lokeren of Belgium.

"We lost it in our stadium when perhaps we should have scored more goals," said Keegan. "From that point on Groclin have been the equal of us. We had chances, so did they. It was that sort of game.

"We have been through clear and didn't score. Anelka had a chance but it wasn't the only one we had. It was maybe the clearest one."

City nearly went a goal behind in the 27th minute when Andrzej Niedzielan raced forward only for Sun Jihai to clear at the last minute.

From Sebastian Mila's corner, Tomasz Wieszczycki got away from his marker but his header came back off the woodwork.

A minute later Richard Dunne cleared off the line from Niedzielan after he had skipped around David Seaman. Then the influential Wieszcycki found space and saw his shot go wide of the target.

But City regrouped and should have sewn the game up late on through Fowler and Anelka.

Fowler sent a header over the top from Jihai's cross then Anelka saw his shot turned away by Mariusz Liberda when clean through.

"What we have seen is a combination of good defending and poor finishing from us," lamented Keegan.

It would be wrong, though, to put the blame just on Anelka and Fowler. The team as a whole never got going.

Keegan made two changes from the team that lost to Newcastle at the weekend for this game. German full-back Michael Tarnat was ruled out with a hamstring strain. Sylvain Distin switched to left back with David Sommeil returning to the side and partnering Richard Dunne in the centre of defence.

Shaun Wright-Phillips was reinstated in the team at the expense of Paul Bosvelt after serving a three-match domestic suspension.

But City were left to count the cost as they tumbled out of the UEFA Cup on the away goals rule.