Jeremy Perbet's second-half strike against the run of play gave his manager, Hein Vanhaezebrouck, the perfect birthday present and left us with work to do in the second leg at Wembley next week.
Harry Kane had struck the outside of the post shortly before Gent's opener as we pushed forward in numbers at the start of the second period following a first half devoid of chances at either end.
But Perbet's goal gave Gent, mid-table in the Belgian league, the momentum and they looked most likely to add to the scoreline in the latter stages.
Indeed, it needed a flying save from Hugo Lloris to tip Danijel Milicevic's shot onto the post with just under a quarter-of-an-hour left.