Fowler breaks the mediocrity

Manchester City ... 1 Birmingham City ... 0: Robbie Fowler's first goal since his £6 million transfer from Leeds United could scarcely redeem what was another faltering effort by Manchester City yesterday. Stephen Bierley reports from Maine Road

Indeed, they were so generally poor that Birmingham City's inability to get a point at the least places a large question mark against the ability of Steve Bruce's side to stay up. Fortunately for Birmingham, five of their last eight games are at home, including West Brom next week and Sunderland.

This was a match more memorable for its misses. Twice Nicolas Anelka was clear on goal and made the most unholy mess of it. Geoff Horsfield, a second-half substitute, ran across the face of the goal, eluded Peter Schmeichel, then completely missed the ball as he aimed for an equaliser and tripped himself up in the process.

Amid all the dross came Fowler's goal, which at least had some quality. Prior to this Fowler had cut a forlorn figure, bereft of support from midfield and rarely linking up with Anelka, the Frenchman spending much of his time either marginalised on the left or too deep to trouble the Birmingham defence.

Fowler's goal was created by Ali Benarbia, who had himself been pretty much anonymous. His cross was not of the best but Fowler managed to steer it high on the volley past Ian Bennett.

Previously, Fowler had missed a far easier chance when he turned inside from an Anelka pass and hit a left-foot shot wide.

"It was going to take something special to win this game and Robbie's was a great goal in a poor match," said Kevin Keegan. "It was a quarter chance but he scored goals like that all through his career."

Fowler had needed a pain-killing injection for an injured shoulder and by Keegan's own admission was getting anxious about his failure to score.

"There's always going to be some tension when a striker goes four matches without scoring and I was delighted for him," he said.

"I thought the match had 0-0 written all over it, but Fowler managed to take the hardest chance of the lot," said a rueful Bruce.

Guardian Service

MANCHESTER CITY: Schmeichel, Sommeil, Wiekens, Distin, Wright-Phillips, Benarbia, Foe, Horlock, Jensen, Fowler (Jihai 80), Anelka. Subs Not Used: Nash, Belmadi, Dunne, Goater. Sent Off: Jensen (79). Booked: Jensen, Wiekens. Goals: Fowler 72.

BIRMINGHAM: Bennett, Kenna (Devlin 74), Upson, Cunningham, Clapham, Damien Johnson (John 84), Savage, Clemence, Lazaridis, Morrison (Horsfield 59), Dugarry. Subs Not Used: Marriott, Carter. Booked: Savage.

Referee: M Messias (N Yorkshire)