City lose nerve with victory in sight

Manchester City 2 Fulham 2:THERE WAS a point when Bobby Zamora, the Fulham striker whose career has become synonymous with holding his head and looking disbelievingly to the skies, must have feared his early contender for miss of the season had wrecked Fulham's chances. Zamora had produced what has become known as a "Ronnie Rosenthal moment" and Manchester City punished him with goals from Joleon Lescott and Martin Petrov. But then everything went wrong for Mark Hughes's team and all the old symptoms of what Joe Royle used to call "Cityitis" came flooding back.

Damien Duff’s low shot started the comeback three minutes after Petrov had made it 2-0. Within five minutes Clint Dempsey had headed in Jonathan Greening’s free-kick and, suddenly, all the worst City traits, the ones their supporters must have hoped had been expunged after a near €272 million transfer splurge, had returned to undermine them.

It was a lack of collective nerve, of not knowing how to see out what should have been a comfortable win, and in the midst of it there must be authentic concerns about the form of Lescott, the €26 million signing from Everton.

Typical City, you could say, and for the first time this season it would not have been misplaced. They have come to hate that tag, but a side with genuine top-four aspirations should not allow a two-goal lead to slip at home, even if Fulham do have a belligerent streak.

The mind flashed back to the faltering last few weeks of Sven-Goran Eriksson’s tenure when Fulham came here and won 3-2 from 2-0 down, and it could have been the same again if Roy Hodgson’s side had accepted one of several late chances. Unfortunately for them, their best opportunity fell to the wrong man and, having got past Lescott, Zamora turned his shot narrowly wide.

“At 2-0 we should have seen the game out comfortably,” Hughes said. “The key was allowing them back into the game almost immediately because Duff’s goal gave them the boost they needed. After that we couldn’t deal with the balls into our penalty area. It’s disappointing, because we were in a winning position.”

Reluctant to over-criticise his team in public, Hughes made the point more forcibly in the dressingroom, while Hodgson was entitled to wonder whether Fulham could have completed the turnaround had his front players been more clinical.

Zamora, in mitigation, had spent large spells of the afternoon making this a difficult afternoon for Lescott, whose title as the third most expensive defender in the world, is beginning to feel ludicrous given the way, for example, he allowed Dempsey to beat him for Fulham’s equaliser.

Yet Zamora will not want to see the replays of that inexplicable moment, three minutes into the second half, with the game goal-less. It will be remembered among the worst of its kind, in front of a gaping net, six yards out, and no defenders in close proximity. How bad was it? Even Diana Ross could have scored this one.

“It was a horrific miss and it’s a pity because he actually played very well,” said Hodgson. “Everyone will remember the miss but they will not remember that for 96 minutes and 45 seconds he was magnificent, so I feel sad for him.”

Within five minutes Craig Bellamy swung over a corner and when Gareth Barry, climbing high at the far post, knocked the ball across the six-yard area none of the Fulham defenders reacted in time. Emmanuel Adebayor bundled the ball beyond the goalkeeper, Mark Schwarzer, and Lescott applied the finishing touch on the goal-line.

Hodgson was “aggrieved” because the assistant referee had initially signalled offside in the build-up to the corner and he blamed his side losing concentration for City quickly doubling their lead, when the impressive Barry took on Fulham’s left-back, Stephen Kelly, and then picked out Petrov just outside the penalty area. Petrov stepped inside Greening’s mistimed tackle and stroked a lovely shot past Schwarzer.

Hughes had his own gripes, reflecting on a disallowed goal for Micah Richards at a first-half corner, Barry being penalised for a push.

His anger, however, was directed at his own players.

The victory was in City’s grasp, but having started the season with four clean sheets they now have not had one in seven.