City come from behind against Bolton

Watching the City-Bolton goal-fest exhausted me during the early hours of this morning. City are certainly proving to pull out some exhilarating results this season, while playing at home.

It's quite late, so my thoughts may not be coherent. Please let me know if I confuse you.

It was good to see Bianchi score in the first five minutes or so, but disheartening to see him out of position because of his lack of willingness to recover from the previous play. My favorite part of that play was Johnson's centering pass to Bianchi. As he received the centering ball from Vassell, Johnson gave the sweetest square touch to the onrushing Bianchi who slid the ball past the Bolton keeper, Jaaskelainen.

Neither the City or the Bolton defense looked incredibly strong. Attackers from both sides looked to have large green pastures of uncontested space to blaze through on their way to goal.

The two goals that Bolton scored illustrated the acres of space that were given to Diouf and Nolan. Leading up to Diouf's first goal this season Bolton sliced through a stagnant City defense, traveling two-thirds the length of the field without any serious challenge.

Nolan had a great strike, but anyone should at that level, given that amount of time.

When Hamann forced the Bolton defender, Michalik, to knock the ball in to bring City level just after half-time, I was hopefully optimistic. That optimism spilled over in the 76th minute with Vassell sweeping in Petrov's perfect cross. On this play, I initially thought Petrov shut down by his defender, but his cutting cross was enough to let Vassell pull a Del Piero-esq backheel through the legs for a nifty goal.

Having the 19 year-old Etuhu put the game on ice in the 90th with his first game in a Manchester City shirt was a perfect ending to an intensely paced contest. In the end it looked as though the pace got to the visitors as Bolton simply ran out of gas.

Above all I was happy to see the boys come together and fight for the come back and actually pull it off for the win. Let's keep it up City!

Collapses Make Memories of Good Times Even Better

Last week, Stephen Ireland make my two year-old daughter cry. Err, more accurately, my reaction to his last minute rocket-volley from the top of the penalty area to get the win against Reading was more likely what scared her. But, how could any City supporter contain themselves in such a moment?

Winning in that fashion reminded me of why I first fell in with the Blues. As I eluded in an earlier post, City first caught my attention with the signing of Claudio Reyna. But, as I introduced myself at the forums on mcfcamerica.org I was reminded of what cemented my loyalties. There were two results in the spring of 2004 that did it for me.

On March 4, City trounced the Red Devils of Manchester United 4-1. I was so excited about that game that I remember displaying a desktop wallpaper for each goal scored, provided by the team mcfc.co.uk .

The other amazing moment that spring was the FA Cup replay against Spurs at White Heart Lane. In a 7 goal thriller where the home side took a 3-0 lead into half-time, and Joey Barton was sent off for City just before the break, the Blues went on an improbable scoring streak in the second half. Four unanswered goals propelled the Citizens into the fifth round of that years FA Cup.

The excitement of Ireland's winner against Reading ushered in similar feelings that created those memories from years past. It's emotions such as those that reassure me that I have chosen the right team to support.

Sadly, while I've been compiling these thoughts, City have completely fallen apart against a Wigan side that sits in the relegation zone at the bottom of the table. The game wasn't lost, thank heavens, but that was largely due to a fantastic near-post save from Adreas Isaksson to keep out a close range volley from Ryan Taylor.

Collapses like this only makes those sweet memories even sweeter.