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Your support makes all the difference.Graeme Souness left Maine Road consumed by an icy anger. This season, the Blackburn manager has seen his side outplay Sunderland, Middlesbrough and now Manchester City while on Wednesday night they had twice taken the lead against Chelsea. His return from these four games has been precisely two points.
Even by these standards, Blackburn's inability to win yesterday was perverse. Not only were they two goals ahead with 11 minutes remaining, they had the additional advantage of an extra player once Danny Tiatto had been sent off, almost immediately after being introduced, for an appallingly reckless tackle which almost castrated David Thompson. It should have been a simple matter of securing victory against a City side that, by their own admission, had played miserably. Not only did Blackburn fail to win, they might even have lost. Souness took no consolation from the fact he had become the first manager to take a point at Maine Road since Boxing Day.
"It was down to sheer dopeyness. You have team meetings and you think some players know something about the game but after this I'm not so sure," Souness reflected. "We have played well in every match, apart from the one at Birmingham, which we won. That's this crazy game for you."
It might be the last Tiatto plays for Manchester City while Richard Dunne, who has been suspended for "a serious breach of club discipline", will also feel Kevin Keegan's wrath.
The Manchester City manager would not specify what Dunne was accused of. He has been banned from the club for two weeks, having been sent home from training on Saturday morning in what is believed to be an alcohol-related incident. "It is not the first time he has broken club rules but it might be the last," Keegan said. A board meeting this week will decide Dunne's fate.
Keegan was in no mood to defend Tiatto, who astonishingly received something of an ovation when he trotted down the tunnel. "I will fine him the maximum I can because it was just stupid," he said. "If one of my players had received that tackle I would have been livid. I am disgusted with it; it was so unprofessional."
Ironically, it was Shaun Goater, who came on as a substitute with Tiatto, who helped to turn a game which appeared irretrievable. Both City's goals came from similar moves, with first Eyal Berkovic and then Sylvain Distin pulling balls across the face of the Blackburn area. Nicolas Anelka, who until Goater's arrival had worked tirelessly but with no support, finished off the first; Goater drove home the second.
For the first 70 minutes, Manchester City had been a shambles, reminiscent of the last days of Joe Royle's regime in which Dunne had played his own inglorious part. Facing a Blackburn team playing in red – and with Dwight Yorke, Andy Cole, Henning Berg and Keith Gillespie resembling a Manchester United of times past – City surrendered possession constantly, and one dreadfully casual pass from Marc-Vivien Foé sent Thompson clear on goal. The midfielder maintained his composure as Sun Jihai lunged in with a tackle to drive past Peter Schmeichel.
The Dane, the fourth member of Sir Alex Ferguson's European Cup-winning side on display, made two fine saves from men who had been with him on that May night in Barcelona, blocking Yorke's shot from a tight angle in the first half and scooping Berg's effort on to the crossbar in the second. Until those last, fateful 10 minutes, the Norwegian, who had complained publicly about being left out by Souness, had been the day's outstanding performer, nullifying City's sporadic attacks.
Schmeichel was able to do nothing about a shot from Cole, the third member of the United trinity, which was the culmination of Shaun Wright-Phillips surrendering the ball in midfield. It finished with Cole hobbling off on Yorke's shoulders, having pulled a hamstring muscle in the act of shooting. At the time, it appeared the afternoon's most noteworthy incident. But half an hour later it had almost been forgotten.
Goals: Thompson (26) 0-1; Cole (54) 0-2; Anelka (79) 1-2; Goater (90) 2-2.
Manchester City (3-5-2): Schmeichel 6, Sun Jihai 8, Bischoff 6 (Tiatto 0, 61), Distin 6, Wright-Phillips 4, Foé 4, Benarbia 5, Berkovic 6, Jensen 5, Shuker 5 (Goater 7, 61), Anelka 7. Substitutes not used: Ritchie, Horlock, Nash (gk).
Blackburn Rovers (4-4-2): Freidel 6, Taylor 6, Berg 7, Short 6, Neill 5, Gillespie 5 (Mahon, 78), Dunne 7, Flitcroft 6, Thompson 8 (Tugay, 86), Yorke 5, Cole 6 (Grabbi 5, 54). Substitutes not used: Johansson, Kelly (gk).
Referee: M Dean (The Wirral) 7.
Bookings: Manchester City Wright-Phillips, Berkovic. Blackburn Neill, Gillespie. Sent off: Manchester City Tiatto.
Man of the match: Thompson.
Attendance: 34,113.
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