Football: Victory lite for pale City

FEW TEAMS win championships without the occasional victory against the odds, and Manchester City stayed ahead of the promotion pack with a goal against the run of play by the defender Richard Edghill and a late header by Jeff Whitley as Blackburn strove to salvage something from a match they dominated for long periods.

If Blackburn needed reminding how difficult it can be even for clubs with the best of pedigrees to haul themselves back up once they have slipped out of the Premiership, Maine Road was the place that would concentrate their minds.

City may have bounced back from their season in the Second Division in the most positive way possible by leading the First, but Blackburn began what was likely to be their biggest game of the season determined to show that their return to the Nationwide would not degenerate into a second consecutive relegation struggle.

They took the game to their opponents and the winger Damien Duff was brought down on the left of the penalty area inside the first 60 seconds. From the free-kick, City's static defence allowed Matt Jansen an equally free header which was hooked off the line. But it was Per Frandsen, pushing forward from the centre of midfield, who posed the greatest threat, and when Duff hoisted a high lob into the six-yard box, the Dane climbed above the City keeper Nicky Weaver, who was blinded by the sun, to head against a post.

City's central defenders Andy Morrison and Richard Jobson are built for strength rather than pace, and when Frandsen out-sprinted them to a through ball, Weaver had to dash to the edge of his area to deny him with his legs, and was quickly back in action palming away Frandsen's 25-yard snap shot.

City were forced to play as though they were the visiting team, out-played in midfield and hoping to forge a break-out of whatever loose balls came their way. But their leading scorer, Shaun Goater, could not react quickly enough when John Filan could only palm away a cross, and the Blackburn goalkeeper had no trouble holding on to City's first speculative shot from Kevin Horlock.

Blackburn's finishing continued to make a mockery of their incisive approach work, so it was perhaps inevitable that City should show them how to do it. Mark Kennedy, always looking City's most dangerous player, cut into the Blackburn box and delivered a low cross that found Edghill, who was left with a simple tap-in five minutes before half-time.

Even then, Blackburn had their opportunities to go in at the break on level terms, Christian Dailly rising above the City defence to head narrowly over the bar, and Jansen prompting an excellent save from Weaver.

City should have given themselves some breathing space two minutes into the second period when the striker Paul Dickov turned Craig Short on the edge of the box, and Dailly bundled him over, but Filan dived to his left to save Horlock's penalty kick. It signalled the start of a City revival, and they twice came close to increasing their lead in the space of a few seconds, Filan acrobatically palming away Morrison's powerful header, only to see Ian Bishop latch on to the loose ball and thump it against a post.

Manchester City 2 Blackburn Rovers 0

Eghill 39

Whitley 82

Half-time: 1-0 Attendance: 33,027

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