Game Sixty One - Manchester City v Sunderland

22 March 2009

It's been a while since I last headed up north to the City of Manchester Stadium and when the chance came up again to head back there, I eagerly jumped at the chance and made sure I was free on that day.

As like the first time I went, train was the only real option for getting to the game and I was praying that there wasn't an "act of God" causing landslides on the line that caused me the nightmare back near the start of the season (search for the Man City v Stoke game for more details on what was the most epic away day journey I've ever undertaken!).

Waking up bright and early, I dashed into Leicester to get my train to Sheffield where I'd have to spend a good 50 minutes or so amusing myself before my connecting train to Manchester. A quick walk around town doing a bit of early morning shopping and it was time to try and find my way back across to the train station - complete with impressive water feature as always.

Unlike last time, there were no problems what so ever and I arrived bang on time into Manchester Picadilly to meet up with Helen, my companion for the day. When we met up it suddenly dawned on us that we wern't actually 100% of the way to go to get there so opted for the age old classic route of following the first set of fans we saw... all well and good until another set of fans passing us going the opposite direction. Still undeterred we continued to follow these fans, chatting away amongst ourselves until it dawned on us that we had overtaken them and they weren't behind us anymore.... whoops!! Yet on we continued and after some childish random walking through some road work barriers, we soon started to recognise places from our last trip and had a fair idea of which direction we needed to head in to find our destination.

After a quick wander round the club shop and the stadium, we headed through the turnstiles and I was reminded as to why I had fallen in love with the place. The massive stands arching across the touchline and the sea of light blue filling every inch of your eyeline.

While waiting for the game to kick off, we watched the players warming up and also made sure that we had a souvenir photo from the day. The first time was me and Helen, second time was me and Katy and this time......

.... Me and Moonchester! I think I've made a friend for life there!

Joe Hart also came over to sign autographs for the fans until he was told off by one of the coaches for not taking the warm up seriously and had to run back to join his team mates.

I must admit that I was quite suprised when Man City signed Shay Given from Newcastle as I felt that in Joe Hart they had one of the best keepers in England at the time. He always commanded his area and made some crucial saves to earn his team many points during his run in the starting line up. He showed how good he could be as he made some great saves as the other players practiced their shooting.

It was soon time for the game to get underway and the players ran out to the sound of Blue Moon and did the traditional handshakes and other pre-game rituals.

The game got underway and the Sunderland fans were in fine voice at the opposite end, voicing their thoughts at Shay Given whenever he touched the ball and getting right behind their team. Bojinov, making his first start since August 2007 after lots of injuries, looked bright early on and thread a great ball through to Shaun Wright-Phillips but his lob over ex Leicester keeper Marton Fulop dropped just wide of the post.

It was a lively start but after 15 minutes, controversy struck as Sunderland were reduced to ten men. SWP burst through once more but appeared to be held back by the defender McCartney and after consulting with his linesman, the referee brandished the red card and promptly appeared to end any chances of Sunderland getting anything from the game. From the resulting free kick, Bojinov smashed his shot just over the angle of bar and post.

Two minutes later and Man City were given a great chance to take the lead. Micah Richards shot forward down the right and as he cut inside, Malbranque brought him down and the referee pointed to the spot. Now we had a problem.... an ex Leicester keeper in goal, and my favourite player taking the kick... who did I want to win the battle more? Turned out to be an easy save for Fulop as Robinho cocked up his penalty well and truly. For a man costing more than £30million there is no excuse for having to try and dummy a penalty!! His stammered run, and Fulop's steady decision not to dive early meant that Robinho paniced and just passed his penalty to the keeper. Awful penalty and the Sunderland fans celebrated like they had taken the lead.

Robinho tried to make up for his mistake but his header was well saved by Fulop and for the rest of the half it was all City as Elano and Bojinov both came close with long range efforts. The only chance for the visitors came from a free kick which was struck straight into the wall.

Half time saw the usual entertainment at Man City as members of the crowd attempted to kick balls through a giant inflatable for the chance to win a holiday or something or other. I, however, was more interested in reading the banners between the tiers. "And on the sixth day, God created Manchester City" was my pick of the bunch.

10 minutes into the second half and we had the first goal of the game. Bojinov won a free kick which Elano swung in and Micah Richards nodded the ball past Fulop and into the net.

Within minutes it should have been two as Richards, galvanized by his first goal in three years, went storming down the right, fed the ball through to Elano who used some great skill to sidestep a defender and then placed his shot just to the right of Fulop's post.

The game paused for a while as Bardsley received treatment as he bravely headed the ball away from under his own crossbar with Robinho lurking. This gave everyone a chance to relax for a few minutes and the typical Manc humour started to creep out as one guy went on a big rant about how shaving is the worst thing that a man every has to do. He had some kind of vendetta against Gillette I think!

City pressed for a second goal and Robinho was still keen to make up for his earlier mistake but his shot didnt have the power needed to beat Fulop at his near post.

Sunderland started to apply pressure with 5 minutes to go as they sensed that they could still snatch a draw from the game. De Jong had to acrobatically clear a Cisse header away when the equaliser looked on.

The more Sunderland pressed, the more vulnerable they were on the break and City nearly capitalised on this.

Elano having a long range shot brilliantly tipped over the bar by Fulop who then made an even better save when Robinho burst through one on one with him. A game to forget for Robinho but one to remember for Marton in the Sunderland goal.

With the final whistle, the City players made their way off the pitch celebrating their sixth home win on the bounce and to be honest that appears to be all that is keeping them out of a relegation battle. We made our way out of the stadium and back over to the train station where I threw Helen onto a train and then grabbed some food before embarking on the long trip home. Two trains and bus to go.... thankfully everything went to plan and I made it home in one piece. Game Sixty One in the bag and a third trip to Manchester City done. That was the fun cartoon before the main feature though as Saturday sees Leicester visit Peterborough for a top of the table clash. Surely anything other than defeat and the championship is in the bag? Time will tell.