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Blues 1 - Manchester City 2

Last updated : 06 March 2002 By Bluenose Ron
After Michael Johnson's early goal, Blues simply stopped playing and allowed the visitors too much time and space on the ball, and the inevitable occured - Man City totted up their 99th and 100th goals of their impressive campaign.

Things looked so good for Blues after just 3 minutes, when following a Richard Dunne foul on Geoff Horsfield, Paul Devlin swung in a beautiful cross which was glanced beyond Nicky Weaver courtesy of the head of Johnson. In a bizarre way though, scoring so early may have been a bad thing, as it made the ever dangerous Man City attack with even more gusto for the remaining 87 minutes.

Ian Bennett made a hat trick of fine saves from the impressive Shaun Wright-Phillips during the first half, and Shaun Goater and Darren Huckerby both went close themselves. It was no real surprise when City equalised on the stroke of half-time. There was more than a suspicion of offside when Huckerby was released down the inside right channel, and he crossed clinically for the unmarked Niclas Jensen to slot home his first for the club.

Blues started the second half a little bit more up-tempo, but still failed to create any real chances. With Bryan Hughes and Darren Carter well shackled in midfield by Danny Tiatto and Kevin Horlock, and with Stan Lazaridis out through a hamstring strain, Blues lacked any real creativity. Man City continued to ram their superiority down the Blues fans throats with some sublime attacking football.

After 67 minutes, the men from Manchester took the lead after some good work and a lay back from the irrepressible Ali Benarbia and a sweet left footed drive by Horlock which flew into the back of the net. Blues had no real answer to this, and despite the introduction of Andrew Johnson and Graham Hyde for Stern John - who had minutes earlier wasted a glorious opportunity following excellent work from Horsfield - and Martin Grainger (who's removal from the game brought cheers from more than just a few Blues fans), Blues were unable to conjure up a response.

Apart from John's wasted effort, the best chance fell to Tommy Mooney who hit a superb volley following a Hughes free kick, only to see it hit a Man City defender en route to the back of the net.

Blues were, quite simply, outclassed in every single department. Man City's high tempo game was just too much, and in truth, but for Bennett and good performances from Darren Purse and Michael Johnson, City could have had four or five.

Man City are a very good team, but the fact that we allowed them so much possession after taking the lead meant that they looked even better. Stockport would look good if you just allowed them to keep the ball. Blues now go into an equally tough match at home to Wolves on saturday knowing that another defeat could prove costly. Man City, meanwhile, will go into the remainder of the season confident of wrapping up the First Division Championship.

Bluenose Ron

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