Bellamy piles misery on Boro

Manchester City bounced back to winning ways with a narrow 1-0 victory over Middlesbrough at Eastlands.

Given helps City to vital win

Manchester City bounced back to winning ways with a narrow 1-0 victory over Middlesbrough at Eastlands. Craig Bellamy scored the only goal of the game six minutes after the break with his second goal for his new club. Shay Given enjoyed a fine debut for City making four superb saves from Middlesbrough striker Afonso Alves. The defeat stretches Middlesbrough's winless run to 13 games in the Premier League to leave them in the drop zone. Manager Mark Hughes identified a goalkeeper and a burly striker as his targets for the final week of the transfer window. As it turned out, he got one but not the other as Blackburn resisted his overtures for Roque Santa Cruz. But Given looked a snip at £6million even before he produced three marvellous saves towards the end of the first half to deny Alves. All of them could have gone in, on each occasion Given was second favourite. But the Republic of Ireland star thwarted the Brazilian striker with his right hand, then his left and finally with his feet to keep Boro at bay and remind Newcastle exactly what they have lost during this troubled season.

Heroics

If Given had not produced his heroics, it would have been tough luck on the hosts, who dominated possession and carved out a series of chances of their own, only to be frustrated by a combination of Brad Jones' agility and the crossbar. Bellamy was particularly aggrieved, twice seeing chances turned away by the Australian before failing to slide home a low Stephen Ireland cross begging for a finish. Given has pledged to have one last go at persuading Ireland to reverse his decision not to play for the Republic of Ireland. And it is easy to see why. Although Shaun Wright-Phillips probed intelligently and Robinho threatened sporadically, Ireland was City's main hope. And it was his burst forward that Wayne Bridge picked out with a left-wing cross shortly before the interval. Ireland flung himself at the ball but could only watch in agony as it crashed against the crossbar, Jones completely beaten.

Goal

Boro might have been reasonably pleased with their efforts but all that changed six minutes after the restart when Nigel de Jong played what seemed to be a routine pass to Bellamy on the right-hand edge of the box. Emanuel Pogatetz moved across to cover but the visitors' skipper did not get close enough. Bellamy skipped past the Austrian's lunge before unleashing a precise left-footed shot that nestled in the bottom corner. The goal allowed City to play with a confidence Boro could not match. The visitors' current form is an obvious drawback but the gulf in quality was vast. Bellamy, Bridge, Wright-Phillips and Robinho, all new arrivals in the last six months, came close to increasing City's lead. Then Given, who has been at Eastlands a mere six days, came to the Blues' rescue again with yet another one-handed save to repel Alves, who had wriggled free of Vincent Kompany. Boro's last hope of a leveller disappeared when referee Andre Marriner waved away Marlon King's appeals for a penalty when his last-minute cross struck Bridge on the elbow. Boro chairman Steve Gibson could only look down from the directors' box in resigned disbelief. Of all chairmen, he is least likely to produce any knee-jerk reactions to address short-term concerns. But as each game goes by, fears must increase that the form reversal manager Gareth Southgate is sure will come may not materialise, leaving Boro marooned in the bottom three.

Manchester City	Team Statistics	Middlesbrough
1	Goals	0
0	1st Half Goals	0
7	Shots on Target	4
10	Shots off Target	5
6	Blocked Shots	1
14	Corners	3
8	Fouls	11
3	Offsides	3
0	Yellow Cards	1
0	Red Cards	0
81.1	Passing Success	73.8
24	Tackles	33
70.8	Tackles Success	75.8
59.8	Possession	40.2
57.1	Territorial Advantage	42.9