MANCHESTER CITY (Etihad Stadium)

LEAGUE CUP SEMI-FINAL SECOND LEG, MANCHESTER CITY 3-1 EVERTON (Agg 4-3)  ATTENDANCE: 50,048

As Gomez did in their famous hit single 'Whippin' Piccadilly' I decided to take a day out in Manchester for this Semi-Final second leg. Fortunately though I never fell into the Union. I booked the day off work and headed over to Manchester early doors, letting the train take the strain.

This gave me ample opportunity to revisit some of my favourite drinking establishments in the Northern Quarter of the city including the Piccadilly Tap, the Crown & Kettle, Port Street Beer House and the Soup Kitchen. There was also time to pop into Piccadilly Records to purchase the new album from Suede, Night Thoughts. I am listening to the CD as I write these words and it is well worth getting hold of if you want my opinion.

I met up with a friend and we had a late lunch before making our way, via tram, to the Etihad Stadium. The stadium has been the home of Manchester City since 2003, when they left behind their iconic Moss Side home, Maine Road

The view from my seat in the upper tier of the South Stand

The ground was built for the 2002 Commonwealth Games and was originally an athletics stadium with a capacity of 38,000. The stadium was then converted to a football stadium when the athletics track was dug out and the pitch level lowered to incorporate the additional seating. This took the capacity of the ground to around 48,000. The latest expansion of the ground took place in 2015 when additional seats were added to the South Stand to take the capacity up to around 55,000.

It was in the South Stand where I took my seat for the game. Everton had completely sold out their allocation of 7,200 tickets and it made for a great atmosphere in the away end. It could not be said about the home end, with many empty seats to be seen around the ground, but there were a huge amount of inflatable bananas, obviously.

The Toffees held a slender lead going into this game, after winning the first leg 2-1 at Goodison Park three weeks ago. I have to confess I travelled here in hope rather than expectation, especially after the Blues' dismal performance against Swansea last Sunday.

However after 17 minutes Everton found themselves with a 3-1 advantage in the tie when a superb run and 20 yard shot from Ross Barkley gave the blues the lead. This joy was short lived as just five minutes later Fernandinho levelled the score on the night when his shot took a huge deflection off Leighton Baines to give Joel Robles in goal no chance of saving.

Chasing the game, City upped the attacking ante, missing some decent chances, but Everton were just about hanging in there, whilst looking threatening on the break. Gerard Deulofeu had a great chance to put the Blues 2-1 up but Everton's luck though finally ran out in the 70th minute when a cross from Raheem Sterling, after the ball was clearly out of play, was turned home by Kevin de Bruyne to level the tie an aggregate.

Six minutes later and it was all over as Sergio Aguero headed home to seal City's place in the final. Once again Everton's achilles heel under Roberto Martinez, the inability to defend, had proved their undoing. No doubt people will go on about the ball being out of play but in the first leg City should have had a penalty, swings and roundabouts. The simple fact is Everton were 3-1 up in the tie and threw it away. That is not bad luck.

I will leave the last word to a tweet I saw after the game from‏ @FourthOfficial_  "When I die I want the Everton squad to lower my coffin so they can let me down one last time"

Onwards Evertonians.........

The photographs of the Ethiad Stadium (below) were taken by my good self on 19th April 2015 when Manchester City played West Ham United in the Premier League, prior to my visit to the new City Football Academy....