Blackburn Rovers versus Manchester City – First half review: English Premier League (Part 2)
Manchester City went onto build on their impressive start to the first half of their English Premier League encounter against Blackburn Rovers in the 7th minute when David Dunne brought down http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Mario-Balotelli-c23937 outside the away team’s penalty area.
The Italian striker’s fall had a slight touch of simulation to it but the referee awarded Manchester City a free kick despite all the theatrics from their mercurial target-man. It was Balotelli who recovered from the challenge miraculously to take the free
kick but his eventual effort was gathered by Paul Robinson as it lacked sufficient power to trouble the English goalie.
In the 10th minute, Blackburn Rovers embarked on their first counter attack of the match as http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Nigel-de-Jong-c27882 on the half way line and then tried to play a cross field pass
towards http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Benjani-Mwaruwari-c7508. However, the former Manchester City player couldn’t get his head to the ball as the pass sailed past him and went out of play for a Manchester City goal kick.
In the 20th minute, Blackburn had a genuine penalty shout turned down by the referee. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Vincent-Kompany-c36184 inside the Manchester City penalty area but the Belgian defender still managed to bring the robust
striker down to the ground by clipping his ankle. The referee was close to the challenge and despite having a clear view of the incident, the match official waved to play onward as City were let off the hook for their careless defending.
In the 29th minute, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Gareth-Barry-c14423 as the Englishman charged into the young Blackburn midfielder near the half-way line. The referee spotted the infringement and as a result he booked the former Aston Villa player, awarding
Blackburn a free kick.
David Dunne took up the set piece responsibility but the midfielder failed to get the ball past the alert http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Joe-Hart-c18699 in Manchester City’s goal as the score line remained at 0-0.
In the 39th minute, Blackburn had a wonderful chance to open the scoring at their home ground. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Joleon-Lescott-c18941 to head the ball towards City’s goal but fortunately for Roberto Mancini’s men, the Congolese defender’s
header lacked the required accuracy to trouble Hart. Eventually the first half came to an end with the score line at 0-0.
The best chance of the first half fell to http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Rovers-c40385 held on in the end despite City’s dominance throughout the first 45 minutes of the match.
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