COLUMNIST KEN BUCKLEY

From my seat: Man City (h)

Another three points and virtual safety ? taken from a top four side.

In a game that saw us (short of five key players) gain the points from Sven's first pick (with the possible exception of the young Johnson) says something for the progress being made.

In a first half that saw us more than shade it, we carved out more chances and should have capitalised on 20 minutes when Cahill's shot was well parried by the keeper but only into his path again but alas he fired over when it seemed easier to score from six yards.

We continued to have the better of it and on the half hour mark we earned a corner which was cleared but the ball was fed back to Arteta who drove in a cross approaching 90 miles an hour that saw Lescott, who had stayed up, move striker-like to the near post and guide a side footer into the net. After Tuesday, that certainly helped to take a load off his shoulders.

The rest of the half saw what chances there were come to the Blues but none threatened and we led the non-fireing fourth placed team at the break.

During the break it was a toss up whether the guy hitting the bar and winning a car or the H/T score from the Riverside got the loudest cheer.

Second half and City, obviously fired by Sven's quiet genious, pegged us back for quite a while without ever really threatening. Sven was forced into makeing a tactical double substitution just 10 minutes in, which always seems to me to indicate that the opposing manager has most to fear. However it did up the pressure on our defence and we were finding it hard to get out and mount anything. It was enough pressure to concern our manager, who replaced the out of sorts McFadden with Vaughan five minutes later. (Did he have an injury?)

The two young men put themselves about without ever looking the real deal but did enough to take some of the pressure off our defence.

On the 70 minute mark, Sven threw on his last sub in an attempt to salvage something but on this day we were not to be denied ? apart from a smart grasscutter from Petrov in the second minute of injury time, which was well dealt with by Howard smothering the ball with no hint of a rebound ? so the half ended and all assembled Blues saluted a well earned three points.

Overall I thought the key to this victory was the taking of a chance in a game devoid of chances, aided and abetted by by both Hibbert and Cahill nullifying City's main outlets, namely Elano and Petrov. Neither of these much vaunted players will have enjoyed their encounter with those two Blue boys.

In looking for a Man of the Match, I am tempted to offer Hibbert but on reflection I thought this game, mainly due to the missing five, was more of a collective contribution and all thirteen who took the field played their part.

I enjoyed the game as a well-fought contest between two sides intent on either Champions League or Uefa Cup placings yet I could not help musing that both sides are still a little way short of matching those top three. We are getting there and this encounter brought into focus the manager's need for his second five-year plan, unless an unexpected big cash injection that finds favour with the Board materialises.

But I am enjoying it and I hope Danny from Ireland had a cracking day out after his 54-year break. UP THE BLUES!!!

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