Manchester City 1 Tottenham Hotspur 2
This was my fourth trip to The City of Manchester Stadium, out of the 3 I'd seen Spurs win twice so despite Man City having a very strong squad I was quietly confident of Tottenham gettng something out of this classic fixture.
Manchester City started brighter than Spurs in the first twenty minutes, with Shaun Wright-Phillips delivering the pace and Robinho dazzling quality with effortless through balls. This culminated in the opener with Robinho slotting home within the box after the Spurs backline crumpled under some pressure from the home team. With the early dominance, this looked to be set up for a home win. However there was a big surprise when Fernandes accrued two yellow cards for bad challenges, the second on Bentley led to his sending off which silenced the home support. Tottenham then did a great job of capitalising on the extra man by passing the ball continuously to tire the City players. Darren Bent scored shortly after Modric had a shot saved at close range and this set the scene for the second half.
In the second half, Spurs struggled to penetrate Mark Hughes' stubborn 10 men. After having most of the possession, in the 64th minute a long pass from Huddlestone reached Jenas who controlled the ball, passed to Bent who calmly side footed the ball into the net off of the far post.
Manchester City then had Dunne sent off towards the end for a foul on Darren Bent who was directly in on goal. After Ekotto was sent off for a second yellow card it was 9 versus 10 and Manchester City had some superb chances but Harry's men held on for another win. This lifted Spurs out of the bottom three and showed the home team that Spurs away support is very strong. A friend commented that the Tottenham fans were 'the best away support at Eastlands this season' and it clearly meant a lot to the Spurs players as they celebrated in front of the away folllowers.
Did we enjoy it? Oh yes. This was the real away tribal experience, standing all the way through the game, chants consistently flowing and plenty of drama. Great stuff Harry.
