Just hum from, the game - best performace I've seen in a while. We actually played footba

ll.

No hoofs!

First half was a little flat from both sides - to be honest I think Mancs City thought they could just turn up to win (to be even more honest, I think most City fans thought Mancs City could just turn up to win). City had to soak up pretty much constant pressure for the first ten mins or so, but after that they started to play too, and moved the ball around well, made some chances, played actual football.

Second half was *much* more like it - snapping into tackles, made more interceptions than I've seen City make for a very long time (and that was mainly Jarvis, Spillane and Russell), and played the ball forward through midfield, properly, consistently.

Man of the match, for me, probably Croft. Seemed to be nominally playing centre-mid, but was *everywhere* left, right, attacknig, tracking back, through the middle, being a constant and relentless pain in the arse.

Weak link tonight, possibly Russell on the right of midfield, gave the ball away a little, and was caught in possesion a bit.

But on the whole about a brazillion times better than satdee sounded. No-one looked uncomfortable on the ball (Russell occasionally, aside), even with Mancs City snapping at thier heels constantly, and no-one looked scared of possesion, like I've seen so often this season.

Nice ground, s**t fans. Nice ground, s**t fans. I'll upload a piccy tommorow showing how empty the ground was.

Didn't see thier goal too well, so don't know if it was a defensive lapse or a good through ball.

Hurrah - best result we could have got I reckon - they can hold thier heads up and say, yes, we can actually perform as a team, and can now concentrate on the league, don't have the risk of injuries suspensions in league cup games.

Posted By: Arizona Bay, Sep 25, 23:40:24