Manager Sven-Goran Eriksson admitted he was a relieved man after Manchester City scraped into the Carling Cup third round with a 2-1 win over Bristol City.
Eriksson's side dominated their Championship opponents at Ashton Gate but were made to pay for acute profligacy in front of goal when Bradley Orr levelled Emile Mpenza's opener midway through the second half.
Extra-time looked certain until Rolando Bianchi stepped up to crash home a 25-yard effort 10 minutes from time, sending City into the last 32 and avoiding an unwanted hat-trick after exits to lower league opposition in the previous two years.
"I am relieved to be through," confirmed the former England coach.
"We should have finished it much more easily. We had five or six good opportunities to score in the first-half alone.
"But the rules of football are always the same. If you don't take your chances, eventually you will suffer."
Ironically, Bianchi had been one of the main culprits, spurning two gilt-edged chances before half-time and another immediately after the break.
But the £8.8million summer arrival from Reggina kept his nerve when it mattered, scoring for the first time since the opening day win at West Ham to ease City into the last 32 and keep alive their hopes of breaking major trophy drought which stretches back to 1976.
"That will be great for Rolando's confidence," said Eriksson.
"Any striker who does not score tends to get a little bit down and he had a couple of opportunities before that.
"At that point, we were thinking there might be extra-time but he found the finish when we needed it."
Eriksson now has 48 hours to bring in the additional new faces he believes are required to make City a top-flight force.
Departures appear inevitable too, with Danny Mills linked with a move to Charlton and Georgios Samaras apparently a target for Middlesbrough.
However, Eriksson denied a move for Inter Milan's Brazil striker Adriano, although, tantalisingly he did add: "Even if I had made contact with him I would say no. Take that how you want."
The Swede offered opposite number Gary Johnson a few concilliatory words, which were well received, even if it hardly made up for an offside flag ruling out what would have been an injury-time leveller for Mark McIndoe.
"There are very thin dividing lines between success and failure," said Johnson.
"If that had gone in, I would have fancied our chances in extra-time, although to be fair to Mark he thought he was just offside."
What did wind up Johnson up was his side's stand-offish attitude during a first-half City dominated completely.
"I had a go at the players at half-time because I felt they were being a bit posy," he said.
"It was as though they wanted to look like Premiership players. They weren't anywhere near angry enough.
"In the end, I thought we gave a good account of ourselves. If Sven says we did well, he means it. He is not the type of bloke to say that if he didn't."
Extra-time looked certain until Rolando Bianchi stepped up to crash home a 25-yard effort 10 minutes from time, sending City into the last 32 and avoiding an unwanted hat-trick after exits to lower league opposition in the previous two years.
"I am relieved to be through," confirmed the former England coach.
"We should have finished it much more easily. We had five or six good opportunities to score in the first-half alone.
"But the rules of football are always the same. If you don't take your chances, eventually you will suffer."
Ironically, Bianchi had been one of the main culprits, spurning two gilt-edged chances before half-time and another immediately after the break.
But the £8.8million summer arrival from Reggina kept his nerve when it mattered, scoring for the first time since the opening day win at West Ham to ease City into the last 32 and keep alive their hopes of breaking major trophy drought which stretches back to 1976.
"That will be great for Rolando's confidence," said Eriksson.
"Any striker who does not score tends to get a little bit down and he had a couple of opportunities before that.
"At that point, we were thinking there might be extra-time but he found the finish when we needed it."
Eriksson now has 48 hours to bring in the additional new faces he believes are required to make City a top-flight force.
Departures appear inevitable too, with Danny Mills linked with a move to Charlton and Georgios Samaras apparently a target for Middlesbrough.
However, Eriksson denied a move for Inter Milan's Brazil striker Adriano, although, tantalisingly he did add: "Even if I had made contact with him I would say no. Take that how you want."
The Swede offered opposite number Gary Johnson a few concilliatory words, which were well received, even if it hardly made up for an offside flag ruling out what would have been an injury-time leveller for Mark McIndoe.
"There are very thin dividing lines between success and failure," said Johnson.
"If that had gone in, I would have fancied our chances in extra-time, although to be fair to Mark he thought he was just offside."
What did wind up Johnson up was his side's stand-offish attitude during a first-half City dominated completely.
"I had a go at the players at half-time because I felt they were being a bit posy," he said.
"It was as though they wanted to look like Premiership players. They weren't anywhere near angry enough.
"In the end, I thought we gave a good account of ourselves. If Sven says we did well, he means it. He is not the type of bloke to say that if he didn't."
Copyright (c) Press Association
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