They caused 12th-minute chaos as a cross deflected off a balloon, Michael Ball miskicked, and Luton Shelton scored.

City boss Sven Goran Eriksson, whose players and staff also lost £2,000 in a dressing-room robbery, said: “My coaches asked the fourth official to get referee Alan Wiley to stop the game for one minute so we could clear the balloons off the pitch.

“The referee got the message but did not stop the game. I find that a bit strange.

“A lot of the time, you see three or four balloons on the pitch.

"This time there were lots and that’s why we put in our request.”

City’s defeat made the message on the balloons look a total joke ... they said: “Just like watching Brazil.”