Manchester City v Wigan Athletic
Saturday January 17th, 2009 3.00pm
City of Manchester Stadium - Att: 41, 262
Teams:
City:
Hart, Richards, Dunne (c), Onuoha, Bridge, Kompany, Zabaleta, Elano, SWP, Robinho, Sturridge (Garrido 60).
unused subs: Schmeichel, Vassell, Fernandes, Weiss, Jo, Caicedo..
Wigan:
Kirkland,
Bramble (Camara 85), Taylor (de Ridder 58), Scharner, Figueroa (Kapo
74), Melchiot (c), Cattermole, Valencia, Pacios, Zaki, Heskey.
unused subs: Kingson, Brown, Boyce, Edman.
Goals: 1-0 (Zabaleta 52)
Bookings:
City: Robinho (70)
Wigan: Cattermole (33), Bramble (40), Palacios (85), Kirkland (90 + 3)
Sending off: Dunne (53)
Referee: L Mason
Pre match news: Wayne
Bridge makes his debut as Mark Hughes shuffles his pack. Nedum Onuoha
is back in defence, while Pablo Zabaleta shifts into midfield and SWP
has shaken off his hamstring strain. Robinho partners Sturridge up
front, but the most interesting news on the teamsheet is the inclusion
of the highly-rated Vladimir Weiss on the bench. Will the exciting
Slovakian winger, part of the Youth Cup-winning side, be the 27th
Academy graduate to play for the first team?
The match
Debutante
Wayne Bridge received a warm ovation as his home fans got their first
view of the talented England left-back. He was in the thick of it early
on, harrying Melciot into giving away a throw in, from which SWP went
close to flicking the ball over Kirkland.
Robinho spurned the
first good chance of the day on 12 minutes, staying onside to run onto
Elano’s lob from midfield but placing the ball wide as Scharner and
Kirkland closed in on him.
The Brazilian striker was involved in
a claim for a penalty five minutes later, his attempt to cross from the
left of the area striking Melchiot in the midriff and rebounding
upwards – but not onto hand or arm.
City’s Brazilian blend nearly
unlocked the gates on 21 minutes, but last-ditch defending kept it at
0-0. Elano’s short pass found Robinho, whose chip over the keeper was
heading in – until Titus Bramble cleared it away from off the line. We
went close again seconds later, SWP crossing from the right to find
Sturridge, but he could not get on top of it and the chance went wide.
As
City continued to dominate, Sturridge went wide as he let fly from long
range, and a mazy run from the livewire SWP ended with the impressive
Scharner conceding a corner – which came to nothing. The visitors were
not as impressive in attack, the much-discussed Palacios getting one
shot in on target and going just wide with Hart covering it on 38
minutes.
The first half ended on a quiet note, and the second
started in similar fashion – until a goal and a sending off brought the
game to life.
City took the lead when fine work by Sturridge on the right saw Scharner’s header go straight out to Pablo Zabaleta – who controlled it and unleashed an unstoppable volley that flew past Kirkland and scraped inside the post and into the net.
But
barely a minute later City were down to 10 men in controversial
circumstances. Dunne and Zaki went up for a high ball with the Egyptian
the higher of the two; City’s skipper went to ground clutching his face
but after he landed he lashed out with a foot. Wigan’s striker made a
meal of it – and Lee Mason pointed an angry Dunne to the tunnel. So not
for the first time this season we were going to have to try to hang on
with reduced numbers, and a few minutes later Sturridge was sacrificed
for Garrido as Mark Hughes tried to protect the lead for the last half
hour.
Wigan piled on the pressure and were claiming a handball on
the line a few minutes later, but a calm Elano had chested the ball
down and cleared the danger. An almighty goalmouth scramble on 68 saw
Melchiot spin and shoot straight at Zabaleta. A couple of minutes later
and Lee Mason earned the wrath of the home crowd again by booking
Robinho for holding back Cattermole.
It was not just one-way
traffic, with SWP breaking in from midfield to unleash a shot that
faded wide with eight minutes left. Zabaleta’s charge-down with his
chest as Wigan tried to break seconds later typified the
backs-to-the-wall nature of the performance.
They say that what
goes around, comes around, and with six minutes left Zaki missed an
absolute sitter that had the City contingent chuckling. A Cattermole
header rebounded off the bar and fell to the striker a couple of yards
out with Hart still on the ground – and unbelievably he headed it over
the bar. Karma indeed.
With two minutes left, Cattermole went to
ground on the edge of the box but this time referee Mason was on City’s
side. As we entered stoppage time a Garrido clearance looked to hit
Elano on the hand in the area, but replays showed it was actually onto
his chest.
A breathless finish saw Cattermole shoot a long way
over, then Hart saved the day with a flying save from Melchiot’s
header. There was still time for Kirkland to go up at the resulting
corner, and City broke away to try to get the second, but Elano’s shot
from the halfway line with the keeper nowhere went wide.
And that
was it – a dramatic match between two committed sides with a dash of
controversy that might just have got our season heading in the right
direction, thanks to a courageous Mark Hughes-type performance by the
Blues.
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