As you may have seen, Manchester City went crashing out of the FA Cup earlier today, losing 2-1 at Sheffield United.

I was one of the seven or eight thousand City fans behind the goal to witness what has since inevitably come to be known as 'Balloongate'.

City fans had introduced so many blue and white balloons to the Bramall Lane ground that, by the time the match kicked off, City goalkeeper Joe Hart's penalty area was awash with them.

At one point the referee suggested to Hart, so City boss Sven-Goran Eriksson later told the media, that while the ball was up the other end of the pitch, the keeper might want to pop some of the balloons.

Hart made a token effort but, preferring to focus on the game, left most of the balloons intact.

Moments later he was left to rue this decision. A low cross from the keeper's right sent the ball wading through a sea of balloons, confusing the hell out of City defender Michael Ball, and gifting Sheffield United a tap-in as the City defenders struggled to separate the ball from the sea of balloons.

Hart, infuriated, made it his mission to stomp vengefully on every balloon he could see. In the picture below all that remains in the penalty area is a graveyard of blue balloon material, although a lone white balloon, to the left of the shot, has escaped the carnage. Meanwhile, behind the advertising hoardings, two dozen or so balloons have taken refuge:

It is arguable that the balloons directly contributed to City's demise and that, therefore, the club's fans knocked their own team out of the FA Cup. Using balloons. Only Manchester City (whose players also had money stolen from the dressing room while the game was being played) could suffer quite such a bizarre humiliation.

Some blame could rest with keeper Joe Hart for not dealing with the balloons but, as his manager told Sky: "You can't ask a player, when the ball is live, to clear the pitch."

The consensus among City fans seems to be that play should have been stopped earlier and the pitch cleared. Other supporters insist that a rule in the Laws of the Game demands that play be stopped immediately should the ball hit a foreign object that ought not to be on the pitch - in which case the goal should have been disallowed.

This, I fear, is clutching at inflatable, rubbery straws. 'Balloongate' is typical of the club's luck and the happy knack City have always had for generating slapstick situations in the unlikeliest of circumstances, but it doesn't mask what was a particularly inept performance.

For those of you who follow football and/or City, I'd like to argue that Martin Petrov should be summarily shot for his pitiful excuse for a performance today, and our forward line delivered their usual delicate blend of confusion flecked with boundless incompetence.

Youngster Daniel Sturridge was our only real consolation. He scored just minutes after coming on as a sub. in what I think is only his third appearance for the first team.

My dad and I saw him play for City's youth team at Reading in midweek, where Sturridge scored all three City goals in a comfortable win over the Royals. He looked a class above the rest of the players on the park, without giving the impression of necessarily being a Premier League star in the making.

His finish against Sheffield United today, a left-footed volley into the net off the underside of the crossbar, might lead me to re-evaluate that criticism. Given the somewhat disappointing absence of reinforcements up front for City this January transfer window, young Sturridge could become the club's great scoring hope over the next few months.

As usual, we're passing quite some burden onto the shoulders of another bright spark arriving from our academy. Let's hope his balloon does not burst too soon.