The last time Sunderland beat Manchester City, Paul Dickov and Shaun Goater led the line for the blues. £1000000000 million pounds of investment since then meant overturning that run was going to be an uphill task; Mancini's men would have to put in a car crash performance not too disimilar from the accident that left new signing Mario Balotelli unavailable for selection.

An early boost was the return of Michael Turner to the heart of defence after serving his suspension. Nedum Onuoha, however, was unable to play against his parent club, and so Anton ferdinand was given his first game of the season at right back, after impressing there against Colchester midweek. Despite his earlier threat of quitting Eastlands, Emannuel Adebayor was again on the bench as Mancini kept faith with the team that beat Liverpool 3-0 last Monday.

As the game kicked off, it was apparent that we were lining up with a 4-5-1 formation, with Frazier Campbell playing on the left wing and moving forward to join Bent when we had possesion. This allowed Steed Malbranque to take a more central role, to try and use his guile to pick open a hole in the powerful trio of Barry, De Jong and Yaya Toure. It was, in truth, a sluggish start, Turner was almost twice caught in possesion by the ever energetic Tevez. However, we just shaded the opening exchanges, Malbranque was impressive, and we had the first shot of the game, Al Muhmaddi blazing over from twenty yards.

Quarter of an hour in, however, and the tide turned rapidly. A Sunderland corner was cleared to the edge of the area, and Kieron Richardson's long range effort cannoned into Yaya Toure, who broke swiftly and carried the ball the length of the pitch. Cleverly sliding the bvall across the area, Carlos Tevez, who had a completely open goal and all the time in the world to make it one –nil. However, in what can only be described as the miss of the millenium, he ballooned the ball over the bar. It was a huge let off, and moments later he had another chance, Campbell gifting possesion again to Yaya, again giving it to Tevez, but this time the Argentinian dawdled too long, allowing time for Turner to scramble across and deflec t his weak effort wide.

Manchester City embarked on a spell of sustained pressure thereafter, Yaya Toure was almost untouchable, brushing players aside amongst driving runs into the box in a Michael Essien-esque fashion. It almost paid dividends on the half hour mark, Tevez sliding him in, only for Mignolet to rush out and make a crucial interception at his feet. The Belgian would make his most important stop fifteen minutes later, right on the stroke of half time. A free-kick was floated to the back post by Milner, where Yaya was left completely unmarked. Mignolet was again lightning off his line, on top of the bulky midfielder and pushing his effort wide. The half time whistle was a welcome relief, it was a reasonable first half effort, the industry of the Sunderland players was faultless, but the distribution from the back four was woeful, continously gifting the City players possesion after they'd worked so hard to win it.

The second half could barely have started worse for the Mackems, Turner and Campbell, both of whom had received treatment in the first half, were unable to take the field. Danny Welbeck and Phil Bardsley were introduced, with Anton Ferdinand moving into the centre of the defence. Nevertheless, Sunderland launched themselves into the second half, Welbeck's skill and movement a welcome addition as he continously combined on the break with Malbranque. In fact, it took twenty minutes for City to manufacture their first attempt on goal, with James Milner dragging well wide. Sunderland were almost unrecognisable from the first half, not giving City a second on the ball, frustrating the gaffer Mancini, who was beginning to throw numerous tanrtrums on the touchline. Most impressive was the way Henderson and Cattermole closed down Yaya, who was never given an inch of turf to drive into the way he had so threatingly in the second half. Although Cattermole's passing was poor, the way he restrained from diving into his challenges was refreshing. The surging runs were welcomingly all coming from the red and white flanks, with Al Muhamaddi and Richardson finally getting into dangerous positions. We fashioned two half chances during this spell of dominance, firstly Bent and Welbeck combined well on the edge of the are, but the United loanee blazed over on his weaker foot. Moments later, a Richardson cross was met by the head of Malbranque, but he too could only put it over the bar.

Mancini had seen enough, and introduced the enigmatic Adebayor in place of Lescott, with Barry sliding in at full back to allow them to adopt an attacking 4-4-2. It almost paid instant dividends, a corner into the box was hammered from six yards by Adebayor, but from nowhere, Mignolet pulled off an amazing reflex save to palm over the bar. Encouraged, David Silva was brought on to replace Johnson, but was unable to ignite a late charge. Sunderland continued to press well without creating chances, Welbeck's weak effort on the edge of the area dribbling into the hands of Hart. Tevez was taken off for Jo with visions of that horrific miss no doubt dominating his thoughts, but his woes were to be compounded further moments later.

Al Muhamaddi, whose pace and power had threatened all afternoon, finally produced the end product that had been so frustratingly lacking. His beautifully weighted cross looked to be landing perfectly on Bent's head, but he was hauled to the ground by Micah Richards. The penalty was given, and Richards joined the infuriatingly cynical Nigel De Jong on a yellow card. Bent stepped up and hammered the penalty home to secure an unlikely three points for Sunderland, but one that was richly deserved on the basis of a terrific blood and thunder second half showing.

Final Score: 1-0

Man Of The Match: Danny Welbeck, strong second half showing, his link up play with Malbranque, Al Muhamaddi and Richardson was key to the victory.

Phil Smith

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