EPL News - Half time report: Manchester City vs Blackburn Rovers(0-1)
Starting XI for Manchester City: Hart (GK), Richards, Kolo, Kompany, Lescott, Viera, Yaya, Milner, Wright Phillips, Johnson Tevez
Subs: Given, Zabaleta, Boyata, Barry, Silva, Jo, Santa Cruz
Blackburn Rovers: Robinson, Samba, Givet, Nelson, Kalinic, El Hadi Diouf, Grella, Pedersen, Salgado, Jones, Biram Diouf
In what was a total mix up between Joe Hart and Kolo Toure, the visiting side took the lead on the 23rd minute. There was mix up at the back line from a long ball as Rovers broke away from clearing a Manchester City corner.
The mix up led Kalinic to capitalize at the right moment, as he rolled the ball into the back of an empty goal. This happened to be a terrible piece of work by City who herafter looked to find the equalizing goal in due time.
City started the match on a high note and often split open the Rover’s defence, but no goals followed in the opening exchanges. In the seventh minute, former Arsenal midfielder Patrick Vieira was penalized for his clumsy challenge with a yellow card.
Although Manchester City started the match on a positive note, yet they couldn’t capitalize on the chances. Rovers made the first substitution of the game as Nelsen is replaced by Olsson.
Rovers are comfortably in front with a one nil lead and would be looking to hang on to this lead for the next 45 minutes. City manager, Roberto Mancini, would be looking to add more fire power to his side as he looks to equalize and win this fixture to keep the club in the title race.
Having spent so much, loosing a home game would be unacceptable for the manager and would want to change his formation to utilize the hole in defence. Three minutes were added to the half and City took their sixth corner of the match. Adam Johnson managed to pace on the wings to make a decent opportunity for Tevez only to be cleared by the big boot of Samba.
At half time, the score stayed, Manchester City 0-1 Blackburn Rovers. Rovers would be looking to fill in the defensive gaps and manage to win this important fixture. City need a comeback soon to take this match back into their control.
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