Sunday Morning
As I listened to the football yesterday I was getting increasingly gloomy as the results came in as it seemed that most of our rivals had got something from the afternoon, especially Fulham, Spurs and Portsmouth pulling off very good wins. I include Fulham because if they finish above us, I’ll have to shell out £50 to a mate for the second time in four years. However, as that burst of Arsenal goals put them in a commanding position Saturday evening started to take on a different hue and I felt a certain inner glow because both our local rivals had lost and two other sides below us, Blackburn and West Brom, had each dropped two valuable home points. Maybe it’s the sunny Mothers Day vibes affecting my judgement but I can’t help feeling that we’re going to get something out of this afternoon’s match. City have won nine of their home games but they’ve also lost five and if we can summon the kind of performance we managed against Arsenal, I think we have a real chance. This couldn’t be done without Ferdinand and it’s looking good that he’ll be fit enough to play. Without him City will do even better than Wigan managed in last week’s shambles. I don’t know about Charles Insomnia but our defence appeared to be fast asleep for crucial sections of that game. I hope Wigan do the same to Hull this afternoon. It looks like Gordon may well return and though I wouldn’t pick on Fulop for making a few boo-boos recently, I think it would be good to keep the competition hot for the goalie’s position. Sbragia has warned of a shake up and who could argue with that? There’s talk this morning that Robinho will be dropped and that Ireland and possibly Bellamy won’t be fit so, here’s hoping. Final Result? 1-1.

The Match
As I waited for the match to begin on Mercury Radio I booked my ticket for the Hull game online but there was no trace of the Man United match on the SAF.C. site for some reason and after hanging on the phone for ten minutes I was no nearer to getting a ticket so I left it till tonight. The team news wasn’t bad, with Ferdinand back and Ireland, who’s done well against us recently, out. Reid was out but Edwards and Murphy were in as we went 4-5-1.

City had had much the better of the first fifteen minutes or so and Wright-Phillips had missed a sitter for them when we were given a mountain to climb as McCartney was red-carded for a foul on him when he was judged to be the last defender. Murphy was promptly replaced in a tactical switch by Davenport, who made his debut, but then Malbranque conceded a clear penalty which Robinho took and Fulop saved brilliantly. (Okay, I couldn’t see it but what the hell.) I felt that despite everything we would still get a point and a minute or so later Edwards went on a great run and narrowly missed. The City fans were silent but our lot were making a good racket. News then came through that Wigan had beaten Hull and I grabbed that bit of good news with both hands. Kenwyne sounded like he was putting himself about more than he had of late and we were managing the odd counter-attack. We got our first corner with ten minutes left and then got a free-kick in a good position but Leadbitter’s strike came to nothing. It was still 0-0 at the break and there was no doubt which set of fans was the happier.

Richards put City 1-0 up after ten minutes of the second-half from a set-piece and Elano missed another sitter for them two minutes later. It was looking grim again but unlike last week we were showing plenty of spirit. Bellamy, who usually does well against us, came on with just under half an hour left and I could’ve done without that. We went down to nine men for a minute or two when Bardsley went off after a head injury but next thing he was up the other end winning us a corner. With just over fifteen minutes left Cisse and Reid came on for Jones and Malbranque and we had to go for it. We had City on the back foot for much of the closing period and forced several corners but man of the match Fulop still had to make a great save to deny Elano. From what I could hear Davenport was also doing well. Four minutes of stoppage-time were indicated and City were sounding nervy and though we were still trying to snatch that equalizer it ended 1-0. So, we’re still only three points off a relegation spot and our season is ending along familiar lines.

Postscript
There’s no game of course next weekend but I may be showing more interest than I usually do in an England game. I teach English for a living and one of my current students happens to be from Slovakia. He’s got a few tickets for a box at Wembley for next Saturday’s match but due to the low level of his English I’m still not sure whether he was offering me a ticket the other day or if he was just asking if I was going to the game. We’ve already discussed his compatriot Stan Varga’s epic debut for us and I noticed he repeatedly pronounces the words ‘head’ and ‘dead’, ‘heed’ and ‘deed’ so I feel that we’re bonding and will be walking up Wembley Way together on Saturday.

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