Tevez opens City account

CARLOS TEVEZ opened his Manchester City goals account after the Premier League superstars were given a Carling Cup fright by Crystal Palace.

Joleon Lescott made his debut in a side packed with £200million worth of talent, with Mark Hughes signalling his intent to justify the club’s lavish spending with a trophy this season.

But owner Sheikh Mansour could have been forgiven for checking some of his receipts at half-time with Neil Warnock’s Palace well on top.

City’s all-star forward line of Tevez, Emmanuel Adebayor and Robinho were not relishing the experience as the Palace back four snapped and snarled at them at every opportunity.

City finally found their goalscoring touch five minutes into the second half, two of their homegrown stars making the breakthrough.

Ireland fed the ball across the pitch to Wright-Phillips, who had escaped the attentions of Hill for once and hit a fierce drive which beat Speroni inside his near post.

Two minutes later Ireland sent Adebayor through one-on-one with Speroni, but the goalkeeper spread himself well to keep his side in the tie.

Barely 60 seconds later City carved Palace open again, Robinho slipping in Wright-Phillips who dinked the ball over Speroni but against the crossbar.

Palace had a chance to level midway when Nathanial Clyne found Moses in the area, but the youngster skied his shot. And the tiring hosts were made to pay in the 71st minute when Tevez tip-toed in between the centre-halves and nodded Wright-Phillips’ corner past Speroni.

CRYSTAL PALACE: Speroni, Clyne, Fonte, McCarthy, Hill, Ambrose (Ryan Smith 72), Derry, Danns, N’Diaye, Moses (Carle 80), Sears (Scannell 72).

MAN CITY: Given, Richards, Lescott, Toure, Bridge, Wright-Phillips, Ireland, Barry, Robinho (Bellamy 72), Adebayor, Tevez (De Jong 86).

Referee: Darren Deadman (Cambridgeshire).