Man City 2 – 1 Portsmouth

TWO second half goals in the space of three minutes brought City their first home win of the season and second place in the Premiership.

City fell behind after 52 minutes to a well-worked free kick routine delivered by Portsmouth winger Laurent Robert and flicked in at the near post by John Viafara.

But this is a different Manchester City than those of the past as they dug deep and struck back on 66 minutes with a goal from Claudio Reyna.

The American was first to react as Pompey goalkeeper Sander Westerveld failed to hold on to a Joey Barton cross, he only succeeded in pushing the ball into the path of Reyna as he arrived late in the box.

The goal seemed to lift the tension off the players and the crowd, who had been growing increasingly frustrated at Pompey’s efforts to stifle the game and stick ten men behind the ball.

And then on 69 minutes Andy Cole struck his second goal for the Blues. He collected the ball from Trevor Sinclair with his back to goal and was able to swivel and shoot past Westerveld’s left hand.

The fireworks of the second half were a far cry from the flat, rather pedestrian, opening 45 minutes.

It was clear that Portsmouth were looking to lone striker Lua Lua to hold on to the ball and try to bring his teammates into the game.

Ultimately it became a case of City’s back four seeing plenty of the ball but struggling to find a way around a determined Pompey.

But the quick fire double that secured the win now puts City two points behind the Premiership leaders Chelsea, and sets things up nicely for the first Derby of the season at Old Trafford on September 10.

Teams:
Man City:
James (7, solid had little to do)
Mills (6, subbed at half time)
Dunne (7, strong when required against Lua Lua)
Onuoha (7, valuable pace at back)
Thatcher (7, starts with defence and will attack when required)
Sinclair (7, work rate high last ball disappoints)
Barton (8, covered plenty of ground and getting forward more)
Reyna (8, a real pro's performance goal well deserved)
Musampa (7, struggled to get into game)
Cole (8, scored goal when required)
Vassell (8, tireless running a great buy)
Subs:
Jihai for Mills 45mins, (7, more balance and threat)
Subs not used:
Sibierski, De Vlieger, Jordan, Wright-Phillips

Portsmouth:
Westerveld, O'Brien, Stefanovic, Priske, Griffin (Skopelitis 85), Viafara (Taylor 76), Hughes, Vignal, O'Neil (Karadas 76), LuaLua, Robert.
Subs Not Used: Todorov, Ashdown.

Att: 41,022. Ref: A Wiley.