Sunday, April 12, 2009

Manchester City 1 Fulham 3

A deuce from the Deuce and a rocket from Etuhu senior seals our second away win of the season and pushes up to 8th in the League. We seem to like playing at Eastlands, only losing once in six visits and winning three of the last four. There's a bit of fortune in the timing, City almost certainly drained from the football lesson Hamburg gave them last Thursday and with one eye on the second leg next week, but then that's been the story of our season. Lucky Fulham pulling off unlikely wins against better teams who just happen to be having an off day. I'm happy for that myth to continue if we keep getting results like this.

A deflected Stephen Ireland shot had given City the lead, largely against the run of play. Zamora had our best chance of the first half, finding himself with only Shay Given to beat after an error from Richard Dunne but firing his shot against the keeper's shins. An early goal in the second half got us back on level footing. Zamora lost the ball as he ran towards goal but Dempsey arrived from deep to smash home the loose ball. We took the lead after another piece of half hearted defending allowed Dickson Etuhu to collect the ball in a similar position to Dempsey's effort. He sidestepped a challenge and sent a gorgeous dinking shot into the top left hand corner.

The points were wrapped up following a lovely bit of football from Zamora. Collecting the ball on the halfway line, he turned sharply, left the unfortunate Dunne hopelessly out of position, surged forward and played a perfectly weighted pass into Clint Dempsey's path. The American slotted home between Given's legs to confirm the points and complete another man of the match performance.

Man City: Given, Richards, Onuoha, Dunne, Garrido, Etuhu (Sturridge 64), Zabaleta, Ireland, De Jong, Petrov (Robinho 63), Bojinov (Evans 55). Subs Not Used: Hart, Elano, Fernandes, McGivern.
Goals: Ireland 28.

Fulham: Schwarzer, Pantsil, Hangeland, Hughes, Konchesky, Davies, Etuhu, Murphy (Dacourt 89), Dempsey (Gera 86), Johnson, Zamora (Kamara 86). Subs Not Used: Zuberbuhler, Nevland, Stoor, Baird.
Booked: Konchesky.
Goals: Dempsey 50, Etuhu 59, Dempsey 83.

Att: 39,841

Ref: Mark Halsey (Lancashire)

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