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Manchester City labour past Bolton; Portsmouth salvage a point

Written by: admin on 10th February 2010

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Manchester City battled past a spirited Bolton Wanderers side at Eastlands to take the match 2-0 and in the process moved ahead of Spurs to 5th place in the Premier League table. Elsewhere, Wigan and Stoke cancelled each other out while Portsmouth earned a ‘stoppage time point’ against Sunderland. Fulham had the easiest day at the office as they pummelled Burnley 3-0 at Craven Cottage.

Roberto Mancini gave winter signings Patrick Vieira and Adam Johnson their first start for the club as he opted for a workmanlike 4-3-3 formation, leaving a number of flair players including Stephen Ireland, Martin Petrov and Shaun-Wright Phillips on the bench. A more welcome representative to the substitute bench was England international Joleon Lescott who made a return to first team action after being out for months due to a knee surgery. Owen Coyle meanwhile gave a start to Arsenal whiz kid Jack Wilshere and out of favour striker Johan Elmander.

City had the better of the early exchanges, but Bolton found their feet around the 10 minute mark and dominated most of the next 20 minutes with Wilshire in particular showing excellent vision in his ability to drive Bolton forward. City were on the other hand struggling to keep the ball and the absence of any creative force on the pitch told severely.

A rare run at full-back Paul Robinson by Adam Johnson saw the veteran give away a cheap penalty in trying to knock Johnson off his feet when the young City winger was going nowhere. Carlos Tevez netted the resultant penalty in the 31st minute albeit with a bit of luck. Bolton keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen guessed right that Tevez was going to hammer the ball down the middle, and after the early mind games stood his ground as Tevez fired the ball straight at him, but the pace on the ball was such that it trickled into the back of the net after striking the keeper.

Thereafter, it was a game which meandered for long periods in the middle of the park. The game was a scrappy one at best as both sides battled it out in the midfield for the majority of the game. Bolton did carve out some decent openings through their trademark ‘Kevin Davies route’ but the finishing touch was missing on all such close occasions. The finishing touch did come later, but unfortunately for Bolton and Owen Coyle, it was from Emmanuel Adebayor as he thumped in a second goal to put the result of the match beyond doubt. Patrick Vieira, who was looking listless with each passing minute summoned his experience at the pivotal moment (73rd minute) and conjured up a through ball that was ‘world class’ to the core. His pass was complemented with a sublime finish from Adebayor, who swivelled and struck the ball on the volley in one motion beyond a hapless Jaaskelainen.

Chung-yong Lee then wasted a golden chance in the 80th minute to give Bolton any hopes of a fight back as he stroked the ball kindly into Shay Given’s lap when the goal was too big to be missed. City closed out the game with minimum of fuss and would be glad to welcome back Joleon Lescott, who played the majority of the second half and lent some much needed stability at the back against Kevin Davies and co.

Over at Fratton Park, Sunderland wasted a glorious chance to end their winless streak against ‘relegation favourites’ Portsmouth. A ridiculous Darren Bent penalty in the 12th minute seemed to give the Black Cats the win that had been eluded them for so long. However, Steve Bruce’s men had to bear the agony of a stoppage time goal from the head of Aruna Dindane, which gave Pompey a richly deserved share of spoils.

It was a match that had its fair share of excitement courtesy some dubious refereeing by Kevin Friend who handed out 4 marching orders on the day. Ricardo Rocha (Portsmouth), Lee Cattermole and David Meyler (Sunderland) were accompanied by Portsmouth manager Avram Grant in the not so coveted list. It was a first to see Avram Grant losing his cool over the many decisions (including possible penalty appeals) that went against his already struggling outfit; his verbal tirade at the referee earned him a distant spot in the stands. The final result though was a fair reflection of the game where Portsmouth gave it their all to salvage a point in their quest for survival in the top tier of English football.

It was a tale of two headers at Wigan’s DW Stadium as Stoke City drew 1-1 with Wigan Athletic. Roberto Martinez’s men took an early lead courtesy a thumping header from Paul Scharner from a N’Zogbia cross in the 14th minute. Stoke searched right through the half for an equaliser but their ‘long ball’ tactics weren’t being met with any desired results. The second half however saw the Potters play with more urgency and the rewards were there when Sanli Tuncay headed in a cross from in-form winger Matthew Etherington. Mamady Sidibie and James Beattie came close to winning the game for Tony Pulis’ side but Wigan survived as both sides had to settle for a point each at the end.

At Craven Cottage, Roy Hodgson’s Fulham completely outplayed the visiting side Burnley in a one sided encounter. The final margin of victory was only 3-0 when it seemed that Fulham could have ended up with half a dozen goals at the very least. The number of times the home side managed to carve open the Clarets was a testimony to Fulham’s superiority on the day. Danny Murphy, David Elm and Bobby Zamora registered their names on the score sheet to give Fulham a comfortable win to. That being said, replays clearly indicated that the first two goals were clearly offside and never should have really stood.

The closest Burnley came to ‘goal action at the right end’ was when Tyron Mears smashed in a free kick from 25 yards on to the crossbar of Mark Schwarzer’s goal. Damien Duff had a good outing for the home side along with Zamora and Elm, but the Irish man could have done with some finishing classes to make a more profound mark on today’s game. He single handedly ran riot in the Burnley half but was unable to deliver the end product on more than a few occasions.

Tuesday’s Scores
Manchester City 2-0 Bolton Wanderers
Sunderland 1-1 Portsmouth
Wigan Athletic 1-1 Stoke City
Fulham 3-0 Burnley

File Photograph Copyright: Alfonso Jiménez

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