Toure and Petrov miss City tie

Posted Wednesday, October 28, 2009 by PA

Manchester City manager Mark Hughes will be without Kolo Toure and Martin Petrov for the Carling Cup match against Scunthorpe.

Toure and Petrov are suffering from heel and knee injuries respectively while Roque Santa Cruz remains doubtful for the fourth round match with tonsilitis.

Wayne Bridge is expected to recover from a knee problem and Pablo Zabaleta is available again after missing the draw against Fulham because of a one-match ban.

Hughes is determined his team will not be the fall guys when they face the Iron.

Hughes wants to land the trophy early next year as a reward for the progress made since Sheikh Mansour and the Abu Dhabi United Group took control of the club.

So losing at home to the Coca-Cola Championship side, who won promotion through the play-offs, is not on his agenda.

He said: "I will still field a strong side - there will not be a raft of changes. We want to progress in the competition and it is important we do so.

"We have given the competition the respect it deserves in previous rounds and will do so again. It is a game we want to win, so that will determine our attitude, I would suggest.

"Scunthorpe are a good team and we will give them the respect they deserve. It is a big game for them but it won't faze them coming to our stadium.

"They have experience in recent times of playing at Wembley and dealt with that situation. They will arrive here in the hope of causing an upset. We have got to sure that does not happen."

Scunthorpe could be boosted by the return of defender David Mirfin for the mouth-watering tie.

Mirfin missed the 3-0 defeat at Peterborough in the Championship on Saturday through illness but is expected to be in the squad. But striker Gary Hooper is still struggling with a foot injury.

Manager Nigel Adkins told the Scunthorpe Telegraph: "We have got several players, who we are not going to name, who have been carrying knocks and we're trying to get them on the field of play. They are doing that and they are getting on with it.

"We have only got a small squad of players and we need to be bang at it every game. We have had the problem this season that we have had so many injuries to the back-line that the inconsistency is there for us all to see.

"But when the players are fit it is no coincidence we're winning games of football and that was evident at Peterborough."

Meanwhile, Scunthorpe keeper Joe Murphy is aware his side are in for the trickiest of tests but is nevertheless hopeful they can pull off a cup upset.

City are overwhelming favourites to emerge victorious from the fourth-round tie against a side who won promotion to the Coca-Cola Championship through the play-offs.

Murphy admits his team-mates are only thinking of enjoying themselves and not worrying about the result but claims they will still have half an eye on a quarter-final berth.

"It will be tough," he told Press Association Sport. "We were looking at their squad earlier and we had a little giggle. All those multi-million pound players and that.

"But you never know what can happen. It's cup football. It's all about shocks and it'll be one of the biggest cup shocks if we beat them.

"We just have to try and stay in the game and you never know. Cup football is like a lottery."

City will once again be without the injured Robinho.

And, while Murphy admits it is somewhat disappointing not to be facing the Brazil ace, the Republic of Ireland international knows their opponents' lineup will still boast plenty of star names.

"You always want to face the best players in the world and he's probably one of the biggest names in football," he continued. "But someone like Craig Bellamy or Emmanuel Adebayor or Roque Santa Cruz will step in.

"I'm sure whoever comes in will be brilliant and it'll be interesting to see how far away we are from that level. It would have been nice to have one of the best footballers on the pitch."