For all Hull City have blossomed in recent times, a remedy for their League Cup allergy continues to go undiscovered.
Even the Tigers' strongest side ever fielded in the competition could not provide the answer against West Bromwich Albion last night.
Despite leading 2-1 with three minutes left, and being on course for a place in the last 16 courtesy of goals from Tom Ince and Robbie Brady, City still conspired to bow out with a remarkable late implosion inside 101 seconds.
First the Baggies levelled things up through Gareth McAuley and then they won it through Saido Berahino. Perhaps only in the League Cup could City engineer such a defeat.
Since the millennium, City have now fallen at their first hurdle of the League Cup in nine of 15 campaigns. Fellow top-flight side West Brom were no Wrexham, Macclesfield or Brentford but they did succeed in extending a pattern that has become engrained within the Tigers' modern history.![Get Adobe Flash player]()
The gut-wrenching defeat leaves Bruce with only Premier League football to occupy his inflated squad until the New Year. The City manager had hoped a cast of hopefuls would not only book a place in the fourth round but also give him a headache ahead of facing Manchester City on Saturday. Bruce left The Hawthorns with neither.
Another lead lost, for the third game in succession, was another worrying trend to digest ahead of facing the Premier League champions.
There were definite glimpses of quality from debutant Hatem Ben Arfa alongside the tidy finishes of Ince and Brady but few will head into training this afternoon knowing their night had been an outright success.
West Brom boss Alan Irvine had been wary of City's threat from the outset, highlighting an "excellent recent cup fighting pedigree" on the back of their FA Cup adventure last term. The Tigers, though, are a more formidable opponent for the passing of the summer.
Even with 11 changes to the side that drew 2-2 at Newcastle at the weekend, there was still eight full internationals in an overhauled team. As well as a full debut for Ben Arfa, an attack-minded side found room for Brady, Ince and Yannick Sagbo. Twelve months earlier, it had been Nick Proschwitz and Aaron Mclean where City's hopes had been pinned in this competition.
West Brom followed the lead of their visitors with 11 changes of their own to ensure there was not a single survivor from the weekend's Premier League action.
The first of the fringe stars to press claims for a recall was West Brom's £10m summer signing Ideye. Despite City starting brightly with Sagbo denied by ex-Tiger Boaz Myhill following good work from skipper Liam Rosenior, the visitors rued poor defending when falling a goal behind 15 minutes in.
A Liam O'Neil cross from the right was headed goalbound by Sebastian Blanco and though Steve Harper reacted brilliantly to keep out a point-blank effort, Idye was quickest of all to react when prodding the loose ball over the line. The Nigerian international was injured in the process and needed replacing by Georgios Samaras but had already succeeded in giving City a mountain to climb.
West Brom played with tails up and snapped at a visitor struggling for rhythm. A 4-2-3-1 shape had given the stage for plenty to shine but it was not until the closing stages of the first half that understudies began to relish the spotlight.
The lively Samaras had twice run in behind the City defence for spurned half-chances while O'Neil headed wide from a Victor Anichebe cross, but four minutes before the break it was the visitors who struck back.
Brady, who had struggled to make any sort of impression on his return to the side, exploited space in the left channel and a cool centre across the six-yard box allowed Ince to arrive late and convert his first goal in a City shirt.
The Tigers turned around grateful for parity but in need of improvements if the third round was to be their final destination. It did not take them long and within five minutes of the second half beginning City had turned the game around.
Ben Arfa's sharp pass carved open the West Brom defence to find Brady unmarked and he kept his cool to beat Myhill in front of the travelling supporters. All of a sudden it was they who sang of future trips to Wembley.
Blanco's free-kick almost silenced the visitors soon after when whistling past the upright from 25 yards out, but David Meyler came in even closer when striking the goal support with a sweet right-foot drive.
City's task inside the closing quarter was to hold firm. The occasional scare threatened their progress but then came a late home onslaught.
The boat began to rock when Harper's low save kept out Claudio Yacob from distance and the goalkeeper was brave in the extreme to push the loose ball to safety ahead of the lurking Berahino and O'Neil.
But just as fortune appeared to be on the Tigers' side with late attacks deflected wide and blocked, the visitors somehow imploded. A corner was half cleared to McAuley and his volley flew through a mass of bodies and past Harper.
Extra-time beckoned but City could not even get that far. A slide pass set Berahino in on goal and he finished with aplomb to win it. One hundred and one seconds was all it had taken for City's League Cup woes to dramatically return.
