Man City: James, Van Buyten, Distin, Dunne (Jihai 55), Tarnat, Sibierski, Reyna (McManaman 70), Bosvelt (Barton 70), Wright-Phillips, Fowler, Macken. Subs Not Used: Arason, Jordan. Blues: Maik Taylor, Tebily, Cunningham, Purse, Kenna (Clapham 70), Hughes Savage, Johnson, Lazaridis, Fossella 9Morrison, 78), John (Dugarry, 46). Subs not used: Bennett, Upson. Referee: P Durkin (Dorset)
Match Report 
Manchester City were dominant throughout - partly due to Blues' lack of adventure - and it was down to a magnificent Maik Taylor display that Kevin Keegan's men were left frustrated having failed to win for the thirteenth consecutive time in the Premiership.
Despite the return to fitness of some key players, and the signing of Martin Taylor, Steve Bruce made just one change to the team that started against Newcastle United last week, and that was the return to the starting eleven of Stern John, in place of Clinton Morrison. As such, alongside Morrison on the bench were Jamie Clapham, Matthew Upson and Christophe Dugarry - not a bad set of substitutes. Martin Taylor couldn't even get a place in the sixteen.
The home side started as they had finished in their stunning victory at White Hart Lane on wednesday. Blues started slowly (setting the tone for their display throughout) and Man City looked to capitalise from the off. Blues' midfield simply couldn't get in the game, and the likes of Robbie Fowler, Jon Macken and Antoine Sibierski all posed problems.
In truth, it was a woeful first half, lit up by one moment of magic from Taylor. Macken got to the byline down the left, and hit an excellent cross that was met by Sibierski. The French midfielder did everything right, and everything Andy Gray would tell you to do - head the ball down. Taylor though pulled of a superb save, somehow reaching down, and reacted to the bouncing ball by flicking the ball away from the advancing Fowler.
Otherwise first half chances were at a premium, with Taylor saving well from German Michael Tarnat, whilst John and Damien Johnson both failed with no more than half chances at the other end. Even in the first half, it seemed that Blues had come with the intent of leaving with a point. Whilst Man City had done superbly in the week at Spurs, perhaps Blues should have also remembered that even in that game, they did actually concede three goals, and prior to this game, they'd failed to win in twelve Premiership games, and won only two league games at their new stadium. How different the game may have been if Blues had shown even a little adventure.
The ineffective John was replaced at half time by the returning Dugarry. The change did little to affect the pattern of play, however, with the home side still enjoying ample possession, but going some way to wasting as much of it as they could. Blues got into the game slightly more, with Mikael Forssell firing wide after good work from Dugarry and Bryan Hughes, and then Dugarry began to find his feet a little more, even if Sun Jihai and Sylvain Distin did do all they could to knock him off them.
Shaun Wright-Phillips had been causing problems all afternoon against Jeff Kenna, and after about an hour, Bruce obviously decided to match like for like, by switching the much quicker Stan Lazaridis to left-back, and bringing Clapham on for Kenna, and playing him in midfield. This did work slightly better, but only slightly.
As the game moved into the final fifteen minutes or so, it seemed that Man City found another gear, and Blues were suddenly holding on for dear life. Kenna, Darren Purse and Robbie Savage all had to make crucial blocks, before Taylor perhaps even bettered his first half save, with a magnificent double save from Macken initially, and then Sibierski again - tipping the latter's header onto the post when it seemed he had no chance. Balls were suddenly flying across Blues' area, and crosses being missed by inches by attackers, and it seemed that finally the Blues defence would be breached.
After all this, as the game went into injury time, it seemed that finally Blues had weathered the storm and managed to keep the clean sheet that would see them leave with a result. What would Blues have given then for a gilt-edged opportunity to win the game, deep into injury time, after having been out-played for 90 minutes? Well, they got one. Substitute Clapham did well to evade two home defenders in the corner, and cut in towards the penalty area. His cross was just deflected past Dugarry, but looped out to the totally free Johnson at the far post. He had all the time in the world to control the ball, which he did, and to hit the target and work David James, which he failed miserably to do. On recent form in front of goal, you'd have wanted the ball to drop to Maik Taylor in the position rather than Damien Johnson.
All in all, it was a point that may have been settled for before the game, but you can't help thinking that had Blues gone into the game with some belief and some intention to go for the game, they may have come away with three points. In saying that, Man City have been and will always be a free-scoring team, so to keep a clean sheet against them when you play so poorly isn't a bad thing, and to come away with a result following a dismal display too is a sign of how far Blues have come. A game Blues could have won, but should have lost. I guess we'll settle for the point.
Attendance: 46,967
Manchester City 0 Blues 0 .. BluenoseRon Reports
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