Thursday, March 5, 2009

Man City storm by Aston Villa 2-0

In a shocking turnaround from the lethargy of the weekend loss, Manchester City turned around with a comprehensive 2-0 defeat of Aston Villa. In what was possibly the finest performance of the year for the Citizens, given everything, it certainly raised the bar for the balance of the campaign.

Due to absences of Craig Bellamy, Robinho and Danny Sturridge amongst others, Craig Hughes was forced to juggle his starting eleven considerably but it worked to perfection. With Pablo Zabaleta at right back, Elano as supporting striker and Shaun Wright-Phillips taking Robinho's normal slot, the Citizens were a well-oiled machine.

After a few close misses Man City had the lead midway of the half after James Milner was adjudged to fouling Shaun Wright-Phillips in the area and the spot was pointed to. Elano stepped up and made no mistake giving City the 1-0 lead. At the break, Martin O'Neill called upon John Carew for Curtis Davies and the visitors finally began to show some attacking vision. Finally after the match being well under-wraps Gabriel Agbonlahor provision to Gareth Barry provided a perfect opportunity to level but Shay Given was up to the challenge. As the match wound down Stephen Ireland masterfully dealt the ball to Shaun Wright-Phillips, who subsequently sent the ball into bring the match to its final 2-0 score.