CITY set about consigning their reputation as cup calamities to the past on a night of firsts at Selhurst Park.

Joleon Lescott made a surprise first appearance for the club in the Carling Cup second round tie, and Carlos Tevez headed in his first Blues goal, after Shaun Wright-Phillips had opened his own account for the season.

A strong City team was still not functioning on full power but they made it three clean sheets from three games this season, and found enough penetration at the other end to continue a strong start to the season.

There were a few sharp intakes of breath when the teamsheets were handed out half an hour before kick off.

Hughes had maintained that he would play a strong team in the cup competitions this season, but few thought he would field the side which he clearly sees as his strongest.

The only change from the side which beat Wolves on Saturday saw Lescott come in for the departing Richard Dunne.

This tie was always going to be a natural for the TV cameras. Up against the £160million might of the Blues were Neil Warnock’s  collection of Championship grafters.

The irrepressible Palace manager had wondered out loud, before the match, whether Sheikh Mansour might have a brother, sister, auntie or uncle who might fancy reviving the fortunes of a run-down south London club.

After an indifferent start to the season, Warnock has only this week seen a transfer embargo on his club lifted – a stark contrast to the spree on  which City have gone.

Add in the fact that City have earned themselves a reputation down the years of being the great Vincibles of any cup competition they enter, and that made this a tie which screamed out for an upset - to everyone but City fans.

That was the measure of City’s task. They had to prove that, as well as bringing in big-money players, they are also developing a resistance to the horrors which have been visited on them in the past – even last season they went out of both domestic cups to lower division opposition.

Those days seem a long time ago. Of the team which lost on penalties at Brighton at the same stage of this competition, only Stevie Ireland started at Selhurst Park last night.

Of the other 13 players who became the victims of another infamous City cup embarrassment, seven have gone for good, two on loan, two are out of the team and two are injured – Vincent Kompany and Michael Johnson.

This was always going to be a test of Hughes’ assertion that he is building a team of winners, men who can take to any stage – whether it is the Nou Camp or beaten-up old Palace – and win.

And in a worrying first half, Palace proved to be exactly the kind of nightmare opposition that you expect when you face a fired-up Warnock team.

They harried City out of any semblance of stride, defended tenaciously whenever the Blues tried to impose their superior quality, and stretched the defence to breaking point at times.

Shay Given again had to prove what a tremendous signing he was, keeping out Freddie Sears on two occasions, the second one sparing the blushes of Lescott who had allowed the pacy striker to nip in behind him.

While they weathered the Palace storm at one end, City were creating the better chances at the other.

Tevez spurned the chance to open his account for City after just three minutes. Gareth Barry and Emmanuel Adebayor opened up the defence and Tevez deftly fashioned a shooting chance before lashing it high over the bar.

It was not just Given in top form. Palace keeper Julian Speroni pulled off the best save of the half, after Wayne Bridge’s storming run from deep inside his own half.

He fed Adebayor, who stepped back inside centre half Paddy McCarthy and took aim for the top corner, only to see the flying Speroni tipping the ball away.

Tevez was again presented with a good chance after more sparkling approach work with Stevie Ireland, and again Speroni denied the goal, hurling himself to block the Argentine striker’s shot.

City turned the screw after the break, and took on the same resilient look which had eked out wins over Blackburn and Palace in the league.

They also found more fluency in their attacks, and on 50 minutes took the lead. The killer pass came from Ireland, slipping it to the unmarked Wright-Phillips, and he crashed a hot between Speroni and his near post.

Suddenly, City were finding a way through the wilting Palace defence at will, Adebayor racing through, and again finding Speroni adamant.

Wright-Phillips was the next to race free, from Robinho’s cute pass, and this time his cheeky chip twanged off the bar, the Palace defence scrambling the rebound clear.

Tevez added the second with a close-range header from Wright-Phillips corner.