Sunderland 1 : Man City 1
03/14/2010 06:45:13 PM
inside the opening seven minutes of the half, Gordon had to make vital saves, keeping out efforts from Santa Cruz, Wright-Phillips and Bellamy in quick succession after being left exposed by his defenders.
Barry and Meyler earned themselves a ticking-off from referee Chris Foy after an angry confrontation off the ball, and the temperature was rising all the time.
Mancini replaced his other starting full-back, Richards, with vastly-experienced midfielder Patrick Vieira with 64 minutes gone, but it was Bellamy and Tevez who almost dragged his side back into it with 20 minutes remaining.
The Welshman drilled in a low cross from the right which the Argentinian prodded towards goal, only for Gordon to block with his legs from point-blank range.
Bellamy might have equalised himself twice inside the last 10 minutes, but lost out in one-on-one battles with the Black Caps goalkeeper on both occasions.
But there was nothing the Scot could do to keep out Johnson at the death, the former Middlesbrough winger curling a long-range effort high over his out-stretched arm into the top corner to snatch two points from Sunderland's grasp.