Premier League - Zaki spot-kick downs City

Eurosport - Mon, 29 Sep 07:33:00 2008

Wigan Athletic stretched their unbeaten run to six matches after beating Manchester City 2-1 at the JJB Stadium.

FOOTBALL 2008/09 Premier League Wigan's Amr Zaki scores a penalty against Manchester City - 0

A wonder-strike from Luis Antonio Valencia and a penalty from Amr Zaki came either side of Vincent Kompany's first goal for City to send the Latics up to 10th in the league.

City struggled throughout the first half to clear the ball from set pieces efficiently, and they paid the price on 16 minutes when Kompany cleared Olivier Kapo's free-kick only as far as Valencia, and the Ecuadorian had time to size up a shot and blast an unstoppable right-footed strike into the far top corner with City goalkeeper Joe Hart rooted to the spot.

Kompany - who also conceded the free-kick that led to the opener - made amends a few minutes later when he got on the end of Elano's free-kick after Maynor Figueroa's attempted clearance only steered the ball on to the Belgian's knee and it rebounded into the net.

Wigan regained the lead not long afterwards when Wilson Palacios made the most of a challenge from full-back Javier Garrido to win a penalty. The Honduras international won the race to a loose ball against Garrido, but as the Spaniard left his foot in Palacios sprang into the air to give himself to best chance of winning the spot-kick.

Referee Steve Bennett booked Garrido for the foul, and also Kompany and Robinho for dissent after they protested vehemently against the decision.

Egyptian striker Zaki sent Hart the wrong way from the spot to score his sixth of the season.

City began to push more frantically for another equaliser as an open and increasingly scrappy second half wore on, and they were up in arms with just under 10 minutes remaining when they felt they should have their own penalty.

Micah Richards sprinted down the left-hand side to reach Stephen Ireland's weighted pass, and collided with Wigan defender Titus Bramble just inside the area. Bramble did not get a touch of the ball and clumsily went into Richards, bet Bennett - who awarded six yellow cards in inconsistent fashion during the match - waved away the appeals.

In injury time as City committed more men forward, the highly impressive Zaki broke forward and had the chance to put the game beyond doubt, but his solid strike from distance after shaking off two defenders was tipped over the bar by Hart.

Tony Mabert / Eurosport

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  1. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    CITY ARE SO SHI,TE YOU ARE A MID TABLE SIDE BEATEN BY A­ BETTER TEAM GO CRY WITH THE GALLAGHERS SORRY BUNCH OF­ SC,UM

    From neil g, on Sun 28 Sep 10:16PM
  2. wigan were the better team by far on the day europe­ here we come

    From phillip.hayes, on Sun 28 Sep 9:53PM
  3. I thought wigan played city the way city always play­ Utd, (good enough to win), hassle and close down fast,­ also this was arsenal's downfall yesterday. Wigan­ are a good side, they will do the same to the top clubs­ this season. Wigan had some great players going­ forward, i was impressed.

    Elano too deep, hitting too­ many beckham, gerrard, type long balls. Some average­ performances, even SWP couldnt control the ball,­ Ireland poor today.

    Nothing to worry about, in my­ opinion, theres a few more 6-0's around the corner,­ will be good to see petrov linking up with the­ brazilians, SWP blazin down the right side, lets see­ who can stop us then....

    CTID my son unfortunately­ CTID also :-)

    From jono, on Sun 28 Sep 9:53PM
  4. sorry city but looking anywhere beyond a top 10 finish­ is dreaming well above your station.! you need alot­ more than money to win things.!! you'll be reminded­ of that on many more occasions this season..! Liverpool­ are looking bent on maintaining a title challenge this­ season and I don't see them allowing you lot to­ stop them.! prepare for another defeat.!!

    From , on Sun 28 Sep 9:22PM
  5. i can still picture that bitter city fan call me red­ @#$% at manchester piccadilly station nearly 30 years­ ago.....i love united and as much as i hate seeing them­ lose don,t resort to abusive comments on other teams­ when they do.....unlike city fans when thier team­ does......another trophyless season at eastlands­ awaits.

    From m.fowler771, on Sun 28 Sep 8:42PM
  6. Billy&quot ........Do u usualy speak total and­ utter @#$% or do you just save it for yahoo ?? and by­ the way if u think city can take all the glory in­ January your liveing in cloud cuckoo land. You have­ years of history to replicate as well as loads of­ trophies so take your sorry little arse back to the­ tiny stadium that isnt even yours and swivel you tit !

    From Eagle3777, on Sun 28 Sep 8:13PM
  7. Yet again we get the call for a playback after the­ Winker thing yesterday and this one today. I think it­ must be high on the FA agenda now as it is obvious.­ However when did the FA do anything obvious. Also I­ remain an advocate of the sin bin for 10 minutes.­ Guaranteed then you would not see many arguments with­ the refs. In Rugby the refs are sometimes very small­ indeed but 18 stoners just walk away. If there is­ anything a bit more the captain is called up and told­ to sort it out. And they do.

    From taff, on Sun 28 Sep 8:09PM
  8. will city at long last admit wigan are your bogey team­ last 8 results says it all.

    From AUDREY G, on Sun 28 Sep 8:07PM
  9. Here we go again eh? City get played off the park and­ suddenly its all United's fault? Wigan just learned­ the lesson taught by Brighton the other night on how to­ play against city. Never mind City, next year you will­ have the most expensive team in the Championshit!

    From kevin, on Sun 28 Sep 7:57PM
  10. The refs are ruining the game for sure.When you see­ some of the ourageous penalties,yellow and red cards­ given and when deserved not given.Its damn­ infuriating.
    It`s no wonder ol Sourpuss Ferguson and­ Co. are against the video technology,because then he­ and his players wont be able to bully the referees.
    The­ FA are gutless shower of wimps.
    they proved that with­ the shambles that was the Hammers/Blades.

    From MICHAEL M, on Sun 28 Sep 7:45PM
  11. £76m not that well spent then, what a shame

    From Julian, on Sun 28 Sep 7:42PM
  12. How can City put 6 past a good Portsmouth side, yet­ lose to a bunch of losers like Wigan? City will not be­ winning anything this season, in fact, I think they­ will finish lower down the table than last year.­ Absolute disgrace. look at the Carling Cup: were City­ trying?

    From dismaldave, on Sun 28 Sep 7:42PM
  13. What i want to know is, are Steve Bennet, Mike Riley­ and Rob Stiles related in anyway or are they alongside­ Andy Gray just three individual absolute T..ts?????, i­ thought Ronaldo's dive and the outcome of awarding­ the Scum Rags a penalty was the worst decision i have­ ever seen in my life, but today's decision in­ awarding Wigan a penalty for the most outrageous­ swallow dive known to mankind beats even Trannyboys­ attempt at cheating.
    I have never seen a referee­ and linesman award so many outrageous one sided­ decisions against a team as Bennet and the fat faced­ blind C..t running the touch line did today, It has now­ become plainly obvious over this weekend that these­ three Referee's (Two Homer's & one Scouse­ fanatic) and a few others are out there hellbent on­ totally killing the game of Football by turning it­ into a non-contact sport, can anyone envisage such­ greats as Norman Hunter, Tommy Smith or Ron Harris etc­ playing in today's football environment??, not one­ of them would last more than 20 seconds in a match­ before being shown a red card.
    There's no sour­ grapes on my behalf towards Wigan at all and i would­ like to congratulate them on today's win and wish­ them well for the remainder of the season.

    City­ Til' I Die...

    From Bilbo, on Sun 28 Sep 7:33PM
  14. Kompany is from belgium not frNCE

    From Beverley, on Sun 28 Sep 7:33PM
  15. At least fat head Bruce had the decency to kinda admit­ it was a dive.

    From MICHAEL M, on Sun 28 Sep 7:31PM
  16. Zaki Zaki Zaki ......................... arab players­ is the best , Man City bring Zaki instead of Robinho­ .......

    From me, on Sun 28 Sep 7:31PM
  17. I bet those arabs wished they'd bought a proper­ football club now

    From Bromley Blue, on Sun 28 Sep 7:09PM
  18. It's truly amazing how man fans blame the referee­ when their team loses. If City were that good­ they'd have scored more than Wigan. There are 90­ minutes in a game and even a bad decision, which were­ not evident in this game, leaves plenty of time for a­ decent team to score. I bet Robhino has suddenly­ realised that he signed for the wrong Manchester team,­ not that United would want him. Werll done Wigan, keep­ up the good work. Nice to be on the sporting map at­ last.

    From quatt47, on Sun 28 Sep 7:03PM
  19. DRY YOUR EYES CITY.
    Wigan won ....
    Get over­ it.

    From Alan, on Sun 28 Sep 6:41PM
  20. komapany is a belgian not a frenchman as the article­ says

    From sf, on Sun 28 Sep 6:40PM
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