Man City 1-0 Norwich: Samaras at the death

Forgotten man Georgios Samaras provided the perfect answer to his many detractors as he slotted home a last-gasp Carling Cup winner for Manchester City against Norwich.

Not even offered a place on the bench by Sven-Goran Eriksson so far this season, the £6million Stuart Pearce signing would surely have been sold in August had a suitable buyer been found.
Instead, despite interest from Middlesbrough, Samaras opted to stay at Eastlands and fight for his place.
The battle will not be an easy one to win but the Greek forward started in the best manner possible, finishing off Kelvin Etuhu's superb through ball to ensure the Premier League high-flyers overcame a determined Norwich side who scrapped throughout but never really looked like causing a shock.
• Eriksson: Samaras has a future
Not that City were that good. With only three chances of any note, the hosts seemed set to be taken into extra-time until Samaras found his range, charging clear of the Canaries defence to set the Blues fans chirping.
City have not been in the top four for very long but Eriksson has quickly adopted the same Carling Cup strategy as England's Champions League contenders.
The Swede assured everyone he was taking the competition - the last major trophy City have won - seriously, then promptly dropped nine of his starting line-up from the weekend draw at Fulham.
Only skipper Richard Dunne and midfielder Stephen Ireland remained and both men, for differing reasons, had missed the previous weekend's win over Aston Villa.
It quickly became apparent most of City's attacks would come through Brazilian midfielder Geovanni, who has flitted in and out of Eriksson's first-choice line-up this season and whose most notable contribution so far was the derby-day winner against United.
Unfortunately, his efforts met with little success during a truly awful opening period.
Indeed, the nearest City came to breaking the deadlock was from one of the free-kicks Geovanni did not take, Michael Ball curling an effort towards the top corner which David Marshall unconvincingly fumbled away.
At the other end, England Under-21 international Joe Hart was somewhat more certain of his angles as he flew to his left to steer a 20-yard Jon Otsemobor free-kick away from danger.
And that, in terms of goalmouth action, was more or less it apart from one Samaras shot.
When Stuart Pearce's two and a bit years as manager is assessed, Samaras' name will always crop up. The Greek forward was the uncut diamond Pearce hoped would eventually shine.
But, after an initial bright start to his Blues career, the investment in Samaras was proved to be particularly unwise.
Offered a previously non-existent chance to shine, Samaras flitted about to little effect as he has done for most of his time with the Eastlands outfit.
However, he did find himself in a bit of space on the half hour, enough to send a low effort curling towards the Norwich goal which Marshall pushed away.
Amid the huge number of youngsters who have graduated from the City academy, some have not quite made the grade.
Winger Lee Croft is one of that number and in his anxiety to impress against his old club, struggled to make an impact.
Yet he could quite easily have put Norwich in front when he benefited from a dubious onside call as he strode on to Otsemobor's touchline pass.
Despite the tightness of the angle, Croft really should have gone for goal himself. Instead he tried to find Jamie Cureton with a square ball and one-time team-mate Nedum Onuoha slid in to clear.
The lack of entertainment was summed up midway through the second period when Norwich manager Peter Grant controlled a punt out of play on his chest and began an impromptu keepie-uppie session which earned the biggest cheer of the entire night.
City substitute Etuhu wasted an opportunity to mark his debut with a winner, while Rolando Bianchi was also off target with a snap-shot as the clock ticked down.
But there was still time for a winner as Etuhu produced the pin-point pass which allowed Samaras to send City into the last 16.
• Eriksson: Samaras has a future
Sven-Goran Eriksson insists Carling Cup hero Georgios Samaras has a future at Manchester City.
'Georgios has a contract here and he has a future here,' said Eriksson. 'If he carries on playing like that, I will use him.
'The goal is fantastic for his confidence and I am really pleased for him because he has not been playing for us.'
Despite his lack of first-team chances so far, Eriksson revealed Samaras had never once banged on his door demanding to know why he was continually being ignored.
The only time the pair have spoken in depth was at the end of last month when, despite interest from both England and overseas, Samaras confirmed his intention to remain where he was.
'He told me at the end of August that he wanted to stay and fight for his place, which is exactly what he has done,' said Eriksson. 'He has never complained and never done anything stupid in training. He has always worked hard and been extremely positive.
'I heard there were clubs in Spain, Portugal and England who inquired but I don't know if they were really good offers or not.
'I did speak to some players when I came here and told them I couldn't give them much football. One of them was Georgios. I told him if he found a club willing to discuss things with us that would be okay but he likes the Premier League and he wanted to stay.'
Samaras did waste a couple of opportunities earlier in the game but City looked certain to head into extra-time before he pounced onto Kelvin Etuhu's through ball in the final minute.
His calm finish kept alive City's hopes of ending their 31-year trophy drought, although they will have to do much better than this if they are to progress any further.
Norwich manager Peter Grant could only express his frustration at the cruel ending although, after seeing Darren Huckerby added to a string of current injuries, he was delighted with his side's battling performance.
'The result was a big disappointment but not the way we played,' he said. 'It can be a cruel game sometimes but if we were going to lose, I would rather lose it playing that way.
'I felt the very least we deserved was to take it into extra-time.
'We looked the most threatening. We moved the ball well and created chances. Maybe we could have been a bit more clinical but that is all.'