Premier League - Fulham peg back City

Eurosport - Wed, 21 Oct 15:54:00 2009

Manchester City missed the chance to move up into the top four of the Premier League table after they were held to a 2-2 draw by Fulham at Eastlands.

2009-10 Premier League Fulham's Damien Duff and Clint Dempsey celebrate goal against Manchester City - 0

Joleon Lescott and Martin Petrov had put City 2-0 up early in the second half, only for Fulham to respond with strikes from Damien Duff and Clint Dempsey to continue their excellent record in the blue half of Manchester - they had won three of their last four league visits going into this match.

City drop down into sixth place in the table due to Liverpool's win over Manchester United, while Fulham move up one place above Everton to 13th.

After a first half that was open without producing any goals, Lescott opened the scoring 10 minutes after the break to register his first goal for City. From a corner incurred by a Mark Schwarzer save, Gareth Barry knocked the ball back to Emmanuel Adebayor on the edge of the six yard box. The Togo striker's miscued touch beat Schwarzer, and Lescott was on the line to help the ball across.

City looked destined to seal the victory when, on the hour mark, Petrov ran on to Barry's ball, skipped a challenge on the edge of the box and fired in a crisp finish to double the lead.

Fulham have proven their resilience time and again under manager Roy Hodgson, and they salvaged a point from an entertaining clash within 10 minutes of being two down.

Duff's commitment to his defensive duties was exemplary throughout, the duel between him and Wayne Bridge proving a key one. Despite that, he still managed to pose an attacking threat. The Irishman got his just reward when Bobby Zamora chested the ball into his path, teeing him up nicely to drill a clinical finish past Shay Given.

From a set piece immediately following a City substitution, Dempsey rose to dispatch a header for his first goal of the season and consign City to their third straight draw.

The fact that Fulham got a result from their visit means that an awful miss from Zamora may not be as oft-recalled as it might have been.

Early in the second half, with Fulham coming out of the blocks the quickest, Given palmed Dempsey's shot right to the feet of the striker. Zamora has already equalled the four-goal haul he achieved in the whole of last season this term, but he somehow managed to steer his shot high of the open goal from all of eight yards out.

Just as Fulham emerged from the break on top, City had begun the match at a high tempo, putting the visitors under plenty of pressure from the start, but it was not until midway through the half that they forced Schwarzer into making a save.

Craig Bellamy squared a free-kick for Barry to shoot, and it took a deflection into the path of Nigel de Jong, whose toe-poke from close range was tipped away with a good reaction save from the Australian keeper.

Fulham should have been ahead before that chance when Diomansy Kamara found himself one-on-one with Given. The Senegalese striker looked across to check the linesman's flag had stayed down, and as he did so took a heavy touch that allowed given to slide in and smother the ball.

Right after that chance, City claimed for a penalty when Adebayor was brought down by Stephen Kelly, but referee Kevin Friend correctly decided that the Irish defender got a touch of the ball as he made the challenge.

City still have a good chance to sustain their lofty ambitions in the next month, with November bringing league fixtures against Birmingham, Burnley and Hull as well as a trip to Anfield.

Tony Mabert / Eurosport

Comment 13 - 32 of 32

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  1. rock and roll machine more like suck and blow machine­ f.a.g ha ha ha what a nob

    From the-man-with-no-name, on Mon 26 Oct 11:11PM

  2. ha ha ha ha nob

    From the-man-with-no-name, on Mon 26 Oct 7:09PM

  3. look at rock and roll machine showing his true colours­ .fookin turncoat i would never change teams like him­ fookin gloryhunter

    From the-man-with-no-name, on Mon 26 Oct 7:09PM

  4. to all the city fans i took my picture of as im ashamed­ hope you understand ggmu ggmu and the reds go marching­ on on on ha ha ha ha

    From rockandrollmachine, on Mon 26 Oct 11:18AM

  5. hello everyone im pretend to be a blue but i must­ confess im a united fan i want to be associated with­ all the glory they have cos all the money we have still­ wont win us anything cos were garbage i mean draws­ against aston villa wigan and now fulham we need to­ spend a couple of billion to be as good as united so im­ changing clubs .im now officially a red im a dirty­ turncoat traitor and i know it ha ha ha ha

    From rockandrollmachine, on Mon 26 Oct 11:16AM

  6. Well done Fulham. I have supported them since I was a­ wee lad and now at 78 I am still proud of of them. Even­ when they were down in the lower divisions I did not­ change my allegience like some fans I know. From Johnny­ Haynes, Bobby Robson, George Cohen, et al, I have and­ will still support this team, but as far as TV and­ newspapers are concerned, they are still a cinderaella­ club, and should get more coverage and­ support.
    terama119

    From terama119, on Mon 26 Oct 8:12AM

  7. Time, money, it's all a bunch of poor excuses.­ Mourinio turned Chelsea around in a matter of days,­ with more or less the same amount of funds at his­ disposal. Hughes is NOT a TOP 4 manager, he has NO­ aggression in his management style, and always plays­ SAFE! A new coach will go a long way for City to back­ up all the pre - season hype (and I personally believe­ that they can get into the big leagues).

    From Dusan, on Mon 26 Oct 7:55AM

  8. LOL, deluded city fans. I have been a city supporter­ since a little kid and the idiot city fans with their­ mindless optimism is embarrassing.

    Hughes is a joke.­ He is an ex-red who would run to Old Trafford if they­ whistled for him. Get rid of the dirty rag.

    No.21 --­ Chelsea had a proper manager who had a winning track­ record.
    Man United got a manager who had a winning­ track record

    Why didnt Chelsea got for Hughes summer­ 2008? Because they wanted a proper manager.

    From paul g, on Mon 26 Oct 7:48AM

  9. Win 2 tickets to a premier match of your choice text GL­ MATCHTICKETS to 87070

    From gibson7201, on Mon 26 Oct 7:28AM

  10. roll on Wednesday, did you forget to buy a defence? we­ love teams that can't defend. there's only 1­ UNITED and they don't play in red

    From paulwalford248, on Mon 26 Oct 6:44AM

  11. Huge credit to Fulham. Their third game in seven days­ and they've got a win and two draws (damn unlucky­ not to beat Roma!). To go to a club like Man City with­ their huge array of talent, go 2-0 down in the second­ half and comeback to pick up a point shows huge­ character and belief. Regarding City I still think­ they're in with a good shout at a top four finish -­ Mark Hughes has grasped a possible poisoned chalice­ however as with the large sums of money invested­ results / trophies / european qualification will be­ essential to him keeping his job. I do wonder though,­ even with the influx of talent over the summer why­ Steven Ireland is not making the starting eleven.... he­ was arguably City's best and certainly their most­ commited player last season

    From pfy1101, on Mon 26 Oct 3:35AM

  12. @16: How long did it take Chelsea to win the league­ after Abramovich took over?

    He bought into Chelsea in­ 2003, in the 2003-2004 season they were runners up, in­ 2004-2005 they were champions. In fact, in their first­ 5 seasons in the Abramovich era, they were champions­ twice, runners up 3 times.

    Nothing less than at least­ that will be acceptable for City after spending that­ amount of money. You simply cannot spend £200M and­ fail, you really can't.

    From on3ofm4ny, on Sun 25 Oct 11:33PM

  13. comment 24, how fooking wrong u are

    last season or the­ season before we would have lost these games

    wigan,­ aston villa away 2 points great result for city

    fulham­ home 1 point, ok good result considering the stats from­ last 4 games a point was good but we should win home­ games

    From bryanshaw68, on Sun 25 Oct 10:32PM

  14. city will become the premiership and european club for­ the next 2 decades but not with Mark Hughes.

    He told­ us that city needed the "winning mentality".­ 15 months later and its worse than under Sven.

    £220­ million spent and they cant hang onto a 2-0 lead at­ home.

    Out played and tactically out done. Hughes is a­ chump and needs to go

    From paul g, on Sun 25 Oct 9:36PM

  15. Fulham are organized with a good manager, they may have­ no stars but on their day they can beat most teams or­ grind out a draw, they will stay up and with some money­ go on a cup run. City need time, but for anyone who­ hates them, they will become a major force, you'd­ better believe it, and while I do not support them it­ is good for the league, the Manchester Derby was worth­ watching for once.
    Still Utd or Chelsea so far­ though.
    If you want to show your football knowledge go­ to: worldcupworld2010 and show us what you know!

    From John, on Sun 25 Oct 9:25PM
  16. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    c.o.c.k and suck machine talks garbage and knows­ jackall im from manchester and have supported united­ since a boy comment 387 that he talks about is my­ scouse cloner do i give a @#$% if he believes me no i­ dont cos he is a nob anyway fookin bellend

    From the-man-with-no-name, on Sun 25 Oct 8:24PM

  17. rock and roll machine is so full of the Hughes Mantra­ to keep his job.

    Fergie is no comparison as he won­ countless cups and league titles before being Man­ United manager

    Hughes has spent £220 plus million and­ must accept that he has to produce the results.
    Has Roy­ Hodgson spent that much Did Roy Hodgson have a superior­ footballing team to mark hughes Yes.

    Hughes has shown­ that his players and his tactics cant­ beat

    wigan
    fulham
    villa
    3pts from 9 is useless.

    These­ games are the make or break top4 and Hughes has­ failed.
    Hughes has had enough time and is showing­ nothing

    From paul g, on Sun 25 Oct 8:21PM

  18. Well, we're up to comment 476 now since­ dazmanutd's comment at 387, and he's said­ nothing since. Why the silence big boy? All this­ bluster about United, yet in comment 387, you turn your­ back on them. Never. NEVER. In my 40 years of­ supporting City, have I seen such disloyalty. That­ tells me two things about you:

    1) You don't live­ in Manchester; and
    2) You are a recent supporter of­ United.

    You probably supported Arsenal when they were­ doing well. Maybe Chelsea too. Hell, you might be a­ Liverpool supporter soon. And in a season or two, a­ City supporter.

    Go away, little boy.

    From Rock and Roll Machine, on Sun 25 Oct 7:34PM

  19. dazmanutd: I guess this is the only thread you can post­ on now, after the deluge of abuse you got for turning­ your back on your own team, huh?

    From Rock and Roll Machine, on Sun 25 Oct 7:27PM

  20. dazmanutd: Go back to supporting Chelsea. If I was­ United fan, I'd kick you in the head. For anyone­ who doesn't know about him, read the­ Liverpool/United thread, comment 387.

    From Rock and Roll Machine, on Sun 25 Oct 7:24PM
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