Fulham end City's winning home form

Posted Monday, February 28, 2011 by UK.eurosport.yahoo.com

Manchester City's winning ways on home turf came to an end as they drew 1-1 with Fulham in the Premier League at Eastlands.

It looked like business as usual for City, who had won seven home games in a row in all competitions, when Mario Ballotelli opened the scoring on 26 minutes, placing a fine right-footed effort beyond Mark Schwarzer.

But Fulham, managed by ex-City manager Mark Hughes, drew level early in the second-half when Damien Duff converted Andy Johnson's driven cross.

The hosts turned up the pressure after being pegged back and Ballotelli, Aleksandar Kolarov and Carlos Tevez all came close.

However, the Cottagers refused to sit back and defend throughout the game and had chances of their own to take all three points, with Moussa Dembele and Clint Dempsey racking up chances.

There were very few serious threats on goal from either side in the opening 45 minutes, but a Fulham side widely predicted to set up defensively at Eastlands surprised their opponents with confident possession in large spells.

Captain Danny Murphy fizzed a fine long-range effort inches over the bar halfway through the first period moments before Dembele had a shot on goal caught by Joe Hart after good work from Dempsey.

But their encouraging play was for nothing when Balotelli found sight of goal amidst a sea of white shirts keeping him just outside the Fulham box and curled neatly into the bottom right corner to break the deadlock.

The goal, somewhat against the run of play, subdued the away side for much of the first-half's remainder, but it took them just three minutes after the interval to draw level.

« Previous12 Next »