By: Alan
Soccer City FC Contributor
Manchester City’s Starting XI
It was the work of the supersubs that claimed City’s only fourth away win of the season. The performance was left back in the dressing room but at least the result was correct. The match will quickly be forgotten among the neutrals and Sunderland fans, with the controversial penalty in the 78th minute being the remembering highlight. In fact, let’s fast forward to the frantic last twelve minutes of the match when the key events unfolded.
The controversial moment of the game happened when U18 star Daniel Sturridge went down from Nyron Nosworthy’s ‘challenge’. Despite replays and watching the incident over and over again, I cannot firmly comment on whether there was even any contact - the fact even I do not know and I have the luxury of watching the challenge means there has to be some doubt to the decision to award a penalty. Referees are instructed to only make a decision if they are fully confident but Nosworthy’s challenge, from the position of Mile Riley, must have appeared to bring Sturridge down. The explosive pace of Sturridge meant that he could easily have been put off-balance by the Sunderland defender. Nevertheless, there are not any complaints from me - it is not the first time this season City have been involved in controversial moments and the cliché of the season evening out in terms of luck seems to be working. A matter of weeks after one of the worst penalty decisions in the history of the Premiership against Birmingham, luck changed at the expense of Sunderland. Elano stepped up confidently and strode up to the ball to convert his ninth goal of the season, placing City in an encouraging position for the rest of the match.
The plan to lead 1-0 and control the game until the final whistle had to be abandoned just three minutes later though when Sunderland equalised through a spectacular Dean Whitehead strike. No blame can be put on the defenders, the finish was a moment of magic and left Hart helpless. The home fans were ecstatic, the comeback would leave them with a point to guarantee their safety in the top flight of English football and preserve their Premiership status for another season. Their celebrations weren’t to last long though. By full-time Sunderland had failed to salvage a point, neither did they go on to win which was my fear. City were instead making a comeback of their own. Elano turned provider with a through ball to Darius Vassell and scuffed a decisive shot past Craig Gordon. Although Darius Vassell’s winner on 87minutes was more likely to pick up comedy goal of the season rather than any prestigious awards, it was the difference between 1 point and 3 and the much-needed victory had been achieved.
The match was uninspiring, lacking and at times dysfunctional. The performance of both teams was disappointing and for a team aspiring to reach Europe it can only be described as dreary and sub-standard. On the positive, City had for the first time won when they had to dig in, play a slightly tougher game and adapt from their usual continental football style – Luck played its part, perhaps it was this that was against us on previous matches but a win against one of the teams battling for survival should be a morale-booster. The disappointments of Derby, Birmingham and Reading can be put behind us knowing that Sunderland weren’t added to that list. City fans will be happy after doing the double over former-United favourite Roy Keane, and hoping for a strong season to the finish after Sven equalled City’s highest points tally in the Premiership with four games remaining.
Post-Match Comments
Sven-Goran Eriksson: “The penalty was a little bit harsh maybe - it was a contact, you can see that. I hope we can keep this spirit up until the end of the season so we can at least still dream about playing in Europe next season."
Darius Vassell: "It was the luckiest goal of my career. But they all count. We'd talked about the need to win before the game and hopefully we can build on this now."
Statistics:
Possession: City 60% Sunderland 40%
Shots On Target: City 4 Sunderland 3
Shots Off Target: City 3 Sunderland 5
Fouls: City 12 Sunderland 13
Yellow Cards: City 2 Sunderland 3
Red Cards: City 0 Sunderland 0
Soccer City FC’s Key Men of the Match
Sunderland
Dean Whitehead
Andy Reid
Kenwyne Jones
Manchester City
Richard Dunne – Fantastic performance and subdued the Sunderland attack
Elano – Proved his worth to the team with a goal and an important assist together with clever passes throughout
Darius Vassell – Finished the job and the perfect supersub
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