Match Review - Man City (h)

[Jourdan]

Derby 1-1 Manchester City
By Jourdan Rhule

Daniel Sturridge, relative of ex-Ram Dean Sturridge, snatched a draw for Manchester City after scoring on his first Premier League start to cancel out Sun Jihai’s own goal.

It was Derby’s first point since their 2-2 draw at St. James’ Park in December and brought a run of 5 consecutive league defeats to an end. However, they were made to work hard for the point and could class themselves somewhat fortunate that City didn’t capitalise on their spells of dominance in both periods.

City bombarded the Derby goalmouth in the first half but just couldn’t edge in front. Just minutes in, Darius Vassell dragged his right foot shot wide of Lewis Price’s left hand post after the former England international had seized on an under-hit back pass. Martin Petrov was proving a nuisance for the Derby defence and was at the heart of two chances that followed as Vedran Corluka headed the Bulgarian’s corner narrowly over the bar before Vassell failed to bundle home Petrov’s cross shortly afterwards. Then Stephen Ireland burst down the right wing before rolling an inviting cross across the goalmouth, fortunately for the Rams, no player in a purple shirt could get on the end of it. An instinctive block by Claude Davis then denied Ireland, after the Jamaican spooned his clearance of Petrov’s cross into the path of the youngster.

Although Sven’s side looked the more likely to take the lead before the break, Derby were not short of chances of their own with Robbie Savage having a close range effort scrambled away with only 12 minutes on the clock, Kenny Miller seeing his rasping volley plucked out the air by Joe Hart midway through the half and Rob Earnshaw poking a left foot shot after a smart turn against Hart’s left hand post later in the half.

The opening goal came only moments into the second half as after City failed to clear their lines, Kenny Miller’s miscued drive took a massive deflection off Sun Jihai, wrong footing Hart and trickling into the bottom left hand corner of his net. Going behind was a wake-up call to the high-flying visitors, they responded by bringing Elano off the bench to replace Kelvin Etuhu and they only had to wait until just after the hour mark to draw level.

Petrov left the Rams defence in his wake as City surged forward on the counter-attack and the Bulgarian unleashed a precise left wing cross across the goalmouth which was met by youngster Daniel Sturridge who prodded the ball home from close range.

Both sides huffed and puffed in search of a winner but both defences stood firm. There was a frenzy of substitutions in the final 22 minutes with Geovanni and Emile Mpenza coming on for City and Claude Davis, Stephen Pearson and Robert Earnshaw making way for Andy Todd, Giles Barnes and Tito Villa respectively. But tinker as they did, neither manager could produce the match-winning substitution as both teams ended up settling for a point.

Player Ratings

Price – 6 – Did ok when called upon and responded well after clashing with Etuhu in the first half.

Leacock – 5 – Got forward well but Petrov ran rings round him.

Davis – 6 – A steady improvement on his display on Saturday.

Moore – 7 – Showed great authority at the back.

Edworthy – 7 – Did very well in an unfamiliar position.

Fagan – 5 – Plenty of effort, little end product.

Savage – 5 – Improved display, best is yet to come.

Ghaly – 7 – Oozes class and confidence on the ball.

Pearson – 5 – Acquitted himself well in the unfancied left wing position.

Earnshaw – 7 – MOTM – Put himself about and caused the City defence a few problems.

Miller – 6 – Determined performance in which he linked up well with Earnshaw.

Subs.:

Todd – 5 – Bounced back well after his nightmare against Preston.

Barnes – 4 – Didn’t see enough of the ball.

Villa – 4 – Didn’t have enough time to make an impact.

[potter]

davis did well for me in this game

potter

[MossytheRam]

Strange report Jourdan, proberbly the first time i dont agree!! Cant see how you can say they dominated for long periods, must of been watching a different game to the rest of us! I thought we had plenty of the ball and knocked it about very well, causing them some problems! I thought Claude Davis madea BIG improvement, not a steady one!! Which is why he got a standing ovation when he went off. Also.... Petrov is a quality winger and will cause any full back he is up against problems, but i thought Deano coped very well with him and had a solid game out of position. Some of those ratings are low, we played well for the first time in a very long time, i wouldnt of marked anybody lower than a 6... with plenty of 7s and an 8 for Earnie.

[potter]

nossy he allways marks low

potter