Pearce writes another chapter to success story

Manchester City - 2 Portsmouth - 1: One of Kevin Keegan's tips to Stuart Pearce upon relinquishing the Manchester City job was never to listen to the radio phone-ins. Or never after a bad result, anyway. Pearce's usual choice of listening on his car stereo is his Lurkers and Stiff Little Fingers albums but had he flicked through the channels on Saturday evening he might have heard himself being tipped as Sven-Goran Eriksson's heir apparent.

"Next England manager," predicted one Manchester City fan. A tad premature, perhaps, but if Pearce's extended honeymoon continues for much longer there will soon be many others pushing the credentials of the one-time electrician with the cockney accent and tattooed forearm.

Much of the focus behind City's best-ever start to a Premiership season has fallen on Andy Cole and, with the Manchester derby next on the fixture list, the attention is likely to remain on the former Old Trafford striker. The real success story, however, is that of Pearce, who has led City to their longest unbeaten top-flight run - 12 matches - since Tony Book's side of Corrigan, Tueart, Barnes et al in 1977.

That team finished as runners-up to Liverpool and, temporarily at least, City are second in the Premiership, in the rare position of looking down on United. Indeed, the appointment of Pearce is looking like one of the shrewdest moves the club has taken for a long, long time.

Pearce has employed all the best bits from the Keegan ethos but erased the sloppiness. It is not that long ago that City's spirit would have been crushed by a perceived injustice such as that when John Viafara, Portsmouth's Colombian midfielder, scored with a glancing header early in the second half.

Portsmouth manager Alain Perrin afterwards spoke of bringing in two new players before the transfer deadline, but it is perplexing that Perrin offloaded Arjan de Zeeuw. Others will wonder how long can he persist with Sander Westerveld ahead of Jamie Ashdown in goal. The Dutchman will wince when he sees the replays of how he spilled Joey Barton's cross into Reyna's path for a soft equaliser. Suddenly City had worked up a head of steam and Cole swivelled neatly inside the penalty area, held off the challenge of Andy O'Brien and squeezed his shot beyond Westerveld for the game's decisive moment.

Cole then ran 40 yards to jump on Pearce which, presumably, is not something he ever tried with Alex Ferguson. It summed up the togetherness that exists at City right now, yet something does not quite add up. This is their best-ever start to a Premiership season so why the lowest league attendance since moving to the City of Manchester Stadium?

Guardian Service