Manchester City came through a penalty shoot-out as they scraped into the first round of the Uefa Cup, thanks to fine performance from Joe Hart, the England Under-21 goalkeeper.

City eventually overcame Danish side FC Midtjylland but only after Hart saved from Jonas Borring and Kolja Afriyie to ensure a 4-2 victory on penalties.

Danny Califf's injury time own goal had given City a lifeline after a poor display during which Ched Evans went close with a header and Daniel Sturridge hit the bar.

Both sides went close in extra-time, but neither was able to break the deadlock. Evans scored City's first penalty while Petrov converted his, to level the scores level at 2-2. Michael Johnson saw Heinze dive to save his spot-kick, however Borring also saw his saved, before Hamann's kick beat the goalkeeper.

Hart then gave his side the advantage when Kolja Afriyie had his kick saved and Vedran Corluka converted his kick to send Hughes' side through.

Corluka admitted his side were lucky to progress. "The nerves are fine for now," he said. "It was really tough but we worked hard and deserved the goal. We deserved the win tonight.

"But they missed some really good chances before the end and God gave us this lucky goal. We were lucky tonight.

"It is not easy but I think this win will be very good for us and give the fans some joy."