Keith Andrews asserted that there were positives to take from a 2-0 defeat for **Brentford**at Man City.
The Bees were defeated 1-0 by the men of **Pep Guardiola**at the start of October in the Premier League, but the new head coach feels that his side have evolved since that result. For this Carabao Cup quarter-final, they were without three of their pillars, but they still put the hosts under pressure.
Kevin Schade strode forward in the first half, and Abdukodir Khusanov committed a challenge that could have forced him to receive a red card. However, he escaped with a caution, and City capitalised.
Rayan Cherki cracked a screamer into the back of the net from distance before **Savinho**sealed a semi-final spot for the Citizens with a second strike in the second half. The loss left Andrews to wonder what could have been if the officials had landed upon a different decision before the break.
"I'm very quick to defend officials generally - it is such a difficult job.
“But that was one they didn't get right. The explanation - the touch being too far away from goal - doesn't quite sit well with me after watching it back because he is clean through on goal. If it's a red card, it's a big advantage for us obviously - but we will never know.
*"We played with a lot of courage. I had to make some changes, with Dango Ouattara going away and a couple of knocks to Igor Thiago and Jordan Henderson.*
"We had one day prep and one day training, we flipped the system - the players are so intelligent, so adaptable and versatile. I was very impressed in terms of how we played; we had to play with courage in how we tried to break them down and control the play.
"Unfortunately, we couldn't quite get that bit of quality in the final third, but I felt we were close on quite a few occasions. I'm disappointed, obviously, but I thought we defended brilliantly, and I'm very proud of the boys."