Man City v Rovers - Match Report

It was another of those games that we have played undr MH where the result doesn't quite match the performance. We played some good football in defence , midfield & attack but never quite did enough to grab the three points. A draw was a fair result to be honest. City's goal came from a SW-P's low & hard cross from the by-line which was one of those which is really hard to defend against. Sibersky (sp?) stormed in and was at the right place at the right time to smash it past Brad. The long awaited penalty with 10 minutes to go was just about a good a shout as you can expect. Dickov turned Mills in the area and was about to shoot when Mills pulled a baseball bat out of his back pocket (that's Mill's not Dickov's) and hit Dickov with it. He also pulled down his shorts (Mills on Dickov again) and tied his bootlaces together (thats Mills doing it to himself) Dickov sent James the wrong way, or at least he scored. I think I was all far too exited with the prospect of a penalty to properly register. General observations: Todd & Nissa looked very good at the back. I think that they may be there for some time. Jay Mc was OK at LB, a couple of misplaced passes but his tackling was spot on. On a couple of occasions he saved us from some very dangerous situations. Reid and Emerton (I've got there at last Rovers 6) swapped wings on a regular basis but also seemed to swap being good. "Here Steve, have the lucky "being good" rabbit's foot." "Thanks Brett, I'll let you have it back in about 10 minutes." I can't really comment on Steadinho as he was subbed at half time after playing at the other end. Matty certainly looked bright enough. Match report written by Colin

Friedel - 6 - Not much to do, few kicks that could have gone further but otherwise solid. Neill - 6 - Looked solid defensively for a change, couple of wayward passes but an improvement on recent showings. McEveley - 6 - Couple of uneasy moments but made some good challenges and supported the random wide man quite well although his final ball was poor at times. Needs to stay in the team though. Todd - 7 - Calm, composed and distributed the ball well. Nissa - 8 - Excellent in the air, made some great tackles on the ground and appears to have stopped lumping the ball forward. Has the potential to be a very good player for us I feel. Reid - 6 - Very willing, contested well in the air but his first touch and crossing let him down, this probably wasn't helped by position swapping though. Tugay - 5 - Still trying and you can see he still has the desire to do well but it's just not there anymore. Seems to have decided to pass the ball through people rather than round them... Ferguson - 6 - Nice and tidy but frustrating today, a few times he sent the ball backwards when we should have been looking to be more aggressive, although the few through balls he tried never came off so maybe it was for the best... Emerton - 5 - I'm a big fan of his but he was poor today, like Reid probably not helped by switching positions but even in his more familiar right side role he rarely threatened. Stead - 7 - Was involved quite a lot from the start, some nice touches and some mazy runs troubled the city defence, he's still a wonderful talent and I'm positive once he gets one goal they'll start flowing again. Dickov - 8 (MOM) - I've criticised him in the past but he was great today, kept hold of the ball well and was a general nuisance to the City defence...really looked determined to put in a good performance against his old club. Jansen - 7 - Some neat touches and close control almost unlocked the defence, moved well and was looking for balls in behind...set up a late chance for Dickov by beating Dunne to a header. Match ratings by LeChuck

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