city v west ham 9/09

This was a cracking game with City playing some great football. It could easily have been 5 or 6 had chances been taken. We also saw the debut -somewhat brief of Santa Cruz and the return - even briefer - of Johnson after a very long absence through injury. There was a sense of urgency by the City side from the first whistle and an early goal celebrated with grace by Tevez against his old team set the right note for what was to follow. Though Carlos Tevez was made man of the match because of his two goals and non stop aggression all over the park there was also an 'unseen ' hero in midfield and defence in Nigel de Jong who gets better and better. He cannot be left out! Barry was a little off his usual form but he had been ill. Though SWP did lots of running I don't think the end result of his efforts were up to his usual standard. He seemed to hold on to the ball just too long. Lescott had a better game and his linking with Toure is improving while Bridge and Zabaleta helped the defence cope with the West Ham attack. Carlton Cole is a particularly difficult player to deal with. Petrov had his first start of the season and made a strong effort to ensure his future inclusion in the team. Despite the game being on TV there was a good crowd to witness City's best start to a season for many years. There was plenty of good passing and running off the ball.

We were welcomed by this huge apparition floating above the pitch. Obviously ESPN wanted to let supporters with poor eyesight who were covering the game on TV! They managed to get it down and through the tunnel before the game started.

City were still without suspended Adebayor and Petrov had his first start. Zabaleta was preferred to Richards at right back

Craig Bellamy was soon to try to break the West Ham defence

Carlton Cole clears a Bellamy corner

After just 4 minutes Petrov had a good run and centre......

..... and there was Carlos Tevez to score from close range to put City one up.

Tevez's celebrations were very subdued after he scored against his old club It brought applause from both friend and foe.

Green was soon in action again saving from Bridge

Lescott and de Jong take care of Diamanti .

West Ham manage to clear from Tevez

A Carlos Tevez effort goes past the post

Long distance drive by Noble is well saved by Given

Martin Petrov shoots but Green makes a comfortable save

City had a shock in the 22nd minutes after conceding a free kick . The ball was cleared by Toure but it went straight to Kovac.....and his shot on goal........

..... was deflected by Cole past Given 1-1

However the West Ham supporters joy was short lived. Almost immediately City won a free kick which was taken by Petrov...

.... and the ball flew past the wall and the diving Given to give City the lead once again

We were a bit concerned when Petrov went down injured but he was soon up and about

A run by Bellamy from midfield gave Tevez a good chance as he beat Da Costa but he failed a beat Green with only the keeper to beat

A Lescott header following a corner just goes wide.

West Ham had a goal disallowed when Cole broke through but he had fouled Lescott - according to the ref!

Just before half time a corner on the right fell to the feet of Tevez......

..... but his shot was blocked by a defender and the ensuing corner was pushed clear by Green. So City led 2-1 at half time

West Ham came back strongly after the interval and the City defence was kept busy

Toure and Zabaleta combine to contain Jimenez

Lescott clears from Cole

A poor back pass is cleared in a hurry by Given and Lescott takes evading action!

The referee holds up traffic as Petrov tries to convince him that a crime has been committed. Send for CSI Eastlands!

Barry is floored and the ref has a few words with defenders - Faubert the offender -again.

Bellamy takes the free kick and there is Tevez - unmarked- to nod the ball down past Green to give City a 3-1 lead

SWP breaks downs the right wing and wins a corner which is headed wide by Barry

A shot by Diamanti is pushed away by Given for a corner

From the corner Given has to save again this time from a narrow angle and City have another corner to defend

City returned to the offensive and Green has to make a good save from Gareth Barry

On 80 minutes we had the moment we had been waiting for - the first appearance of Santa Cruz and he nearly scored as Petrov crosses from the left wing....

Santa Cruz gets a touch but it just goes wide of the post. What a debut that would have made

Johnson ( he seems to have thickened out a bit!) also made a welcome appearance for the final few minutes as City dominated the final stages to protect their two goal lead.