NOV 4 MANCHESTER CITY - BOLTON 1-0 (1-0)

Action shots: Rösler and On goal by Eric Graham.

Report by: Roger Sharp

This was my first visit to Maine Road this season and I was both excited and scared as I boarded the train from London. Firstly I should add that I had in tow two "football first-timers" (virgins?) who I had managed to convince to travel with me, and they informed me that a City victory was essential if they were to "convert" from footballing heathens to City supporters.

Arrived in Manchester around 11.00 and thought a trip to the the new city superstore would be worthwhile. After wandering around lost inside the Arsedale centre for a few minutes we eventually stumbled upon our goal. To be honest I was fairly impressed, a wide variety of impressive, high quality gear was on sale, and had I more cash then a Oasis style "CITY F.C - Definitely Manchester" T-shirt would have definitely been acquired. After a brief stop off in Didsbury for a few jars we arrived at The Academy around 2.40. This was the first time I'd seen the new Kippax in all it's glory......and I must say it was ****in impressive. I usually sit in the North stand but today there was nowhere else I was going to sit!!.

Overall I gotta say that the Maine Road crowd was quite quiet, but given all that we've been through this season it's hardly surprising. Straight from the kick off City were all over our neighbours from Bolton. In fact I can say that our first half performance was one of the finest I've seen for quite some time. The players looked hungry for the ball, were committed in tackles (!), and showed a dedication and awareness that has been lacking all season. The goal itself was a piece of sublime skill and arrived after 11 minutes. Quinn showed a piece of deft skill on the touchline, fired a pinpoint pass to Kinky who, with a swivel of the hips, beat a Bolton defender and passed the ball to the onrushing Nicky Summerbee who lashed it into the net. It was magic, and as Alan Ball said after the match "Yeboah will have to do something pretty special to top that for goal of the month". For the rest of the half City totally dominated and went off at half time to a chorus of cheers.

To be fair the second half performance paled significantly to the first. City applied pressure for the first 20 mins of the second spell, but then seemed to want to throw it all away in the last 25 mins (sound familiar?) when Bolton, at last, came to life. Whether or not the lads were exhausted by the effort they'd put in earlier I don't know, but we're going to have to learn to compete for a full 90 mins if we're going to climb away from the bottom of the table. After an agonising 6 mins minutes of extra time the ref (R.Hart) blew the whistle and Maine Road was on it's feet singing Blue Moon and celebrating our first win of the season!. My two friends were beaming from ear to ear and stating that they'd never enjoyed football so much. One has already pledged her loyalty to the Blues from now on!!

Just a few points in conclusion, on what was a truly great day for Blues supporters. Firstly Quinn, Kinkladze, and Summerbee played out their skins and deserve special praise. Niall showed he's still got alot to offer City, and Kinkladze was sheer class all afternoon - this man is worth the admission price alone. As for Nicky Summerbee I've criticised him in the past but today he deserved nothing but praise. His spell in the reserves seems to have done him the power of good, let's keep playing that way Nicky!!. Secondly I have to say the Bolton fans provided some of the most boring, tedious and repetitive singing I've heard for a while. If "Super John McGinlay" is the best they can do then I really do feel sorry for them!. And finally a message for all those long suffering Blues out there: WE WONT GO DOWN!!....Believe it 'cause if the Blues play half as good as this for the rest of the season then we've no worries. Not that I'm saying it's going to be a piece of cake, just that with a bit of self belief and good support then we'll at least make mid table by May 1996. Cheers and Stay Blue,

NOV 18 SHEFFIELD WED. - MANCHESTER CITY 1-1 (1-0)

Report by: Paul Howarth

Around 5,000 Blues made the short trip over the Pennines to Sheffield to see if City could, like last season, win their first away point of the season at Hillsborough. An extra tier is currently being added to the South Stand, but with an attendance of only 24,422 and large areas of empty seats around the ground, maybe the money should have been spent on the team instead?

City lined up as follows:

                          Immel
           Brightwell  Symons  Curle  Edghill
         Summerbee  Flitcroft  Kinkladze  Lomas
                      Quinn  Rösler

Subs: Kernaghan, Creaney, Coton

City were on the offensive right from the start and nearly scored after only 3 minutes. Flitcroft put in a great cross from the right flank and Quinn glanced a header towards the far post but somehow Pressman managed to get a hand to it and pulled off a great save. This display of agility was not enough to prevent a torrent of foul-mouthed abuse regarding his waistline from many of the City supporters both in front of and behind me though. Occasionally they paused for breath or directed their anger at Edghill who admittedly was having trouble getting anything right.

Both sides clearly saw the game as a great opportunity to improve their league standing against poor opposition and the match developed into an end-to-end encounter. Wednesday nearly scored when a snapshot from Hirst struck the post but he wasn't to be denied when the Owls were awarded a penalty in the 13th minute. Curle (I thought it was Edghill at the time - must have been the influence of those around me!) didn't want to wait until the final whistle to exchange shirts with Degryse and not surprisingly the referee pointed to the spot. Hirst's shot was right in the corner, giving Immel no chance.

The rest of the first half was quite even, with Wednesday slightly edging it. City's best route to goal seemed to be down the flanks, with Summerbee playing well on the right and Edghill pushing forward on the left, where he could give the Wednesday defence problems instead of ours.

The second half was a different story, with City dominating virtually from start to finish. Flitcroft and Kinkladze controlled the midfield, with Flitcroft in particular tracking back well and making important tackles on the rare occasions Wednesday got forward. Kinky has now reached a fitness level where he can keep going throughout the 90 minutes and he set up a number of good moves which were ended by poor crosses, Lomas in particular slicing the ball into the Kop twice when in good positions.

City's equaliser came in the 55th minute when City finally managed to get it right. Flitcroft poked the ball through the Owls' back line at the edge of their area, Quinn raced after it and chipped an accurate cross over Pressman (stranded at his near post) to the unmarked Lomas, who scored with a header reminiscent of the one he scored against Spurs last season.

City continued to press forward, playing what was probably their best football of the season so far. The commitment from everybody was exceptional and even fans' scapegoat Edghill had a good second period. Quinn had another good game, with nobody able to get near him when the ball was played into him. Summerbee regularly took on and beat his man (no, I wasn't hallucinating). It was gratifying to hear the Wednesday fans get on their team's backs; it really must lift the opposition - something that we should bear in mind ourselves, particularly at home.

Only in the last few minutes did Wednesday look like restoring their lead, and even then I reckon their fans were happier to hear the final whistle than we were. Their best chance came when Waddle sold Kinky a great dummy and made himself loads of space to get in a cross but fortunately the Georgian managed to obstruct him (earning himself a booking) before the ball could be delivered. My overall verdict: two points dropped rather than one gained against a poor Wednesday outfit.

Final score: 1-1 (third season in a row for this fixture)

NOV 22 MANCHESTER CITY - WIMBLEDON 1-0 (0-0)

Report by: Matt Cadman

After visiting a local curry house in Rusholme just prior to the game - I was looking forward to seeing City carry on the two game unbeaten run - and didn't we just.

No-one likes Wimbledon, it's easy to see why. I was told that The Dons sold 44 tickets to their "travelling army" from South London - still I guess that's about half their home attendance. I can't imagine these 44 poor sods will be buying a ticket for their next 200 mile jaunt on a miserable Wednesday evening.

The famous spoiling tactics were well in evidence tonight - they didn't want to win, they wanted the 90 minutes over as soon as they could and retreat back to The Smoke one point richer. It nearly happened.

Uneventful, basically describes the game. Although the ref managed to up the drama by having the crowd baying for his blood after only a few minutes of the game.

We really should have had two penalties after seeing Lomas particularly, shoved off the ball. The linesman too made some curious judgements - not pro-City obviously. After finally giving Wimbledon offside in the second-half he received tumultuous applause and had the fans in the Kippax jumping up and down as if we'd scored.

And score we did - a full 30 seconds before the end.

From the North Stand I didn't have the best view but a great ball from Kinky (he just looks superb) and old Niall turns on the skill and knocks it past the keeper. The place erupted - 7 points from 9 - Championship material (ish).

Drab game - great result

Performances

Immel      8 A great save from two offside (but not given) strikers and took
             a whack from some pratt who charged him into the goal-post.
             Looked solid.
Edghill    - By the time I'd settled into my seat he was rolling around the
             floor having been kicked in stomach.
Brightwell 7 Looked fairly good in the left back position - not too bad at all
Curle      8 Had a comfortable match - reassuringly solid - works well with...
Symons     9 Faultless performance - a great buy - best centre half since
             Dave Watson (I think I nicked this from someone).
Summerbee  7 Definitely back to some sort of form - replaced Edghill at right
             back and did well - had the occasional trip upfield to some effect
Flitcroft  7 Got through some work but does seem to want to go backwards
             whenever it's possible.
Lomas      7 He's going through a bit of a bad patch at the moment - loads of
             effort but distribution is poor to say the least.
Kinky      9 There is a buzz of excitement when he gets the ball - he's one
             of those players you can be really proud to have on your side.
Creaney    5 The jury's still out on Gerry - he's certainly guilty of not being
             great (sub for Edghill) but cos we won I'll give him 5.
Quinn      8 He scored but he also played a big role in holding up the ball
             waiting support and showed some great touches
Rösler     6 Mmmm..I think a spell in the reserves or on the bench beckons.
             He's had a lot to live up to and looks to be suffering while he's
             out there. A great talent but he's trying too hard and seems
             intent on getting a free kick every time he gets the ball.

Kernaghan  9 Didn't actually play but drew the raffle at half-time with
             tremendous confidence - has AB finally found a niche for him??

NOV 25 MANCHESTER CITY - ASTON VILLA 1-0 (0-0)

Action shots: Kinkladze and Bert and Kippax by Eric Graham.

Report by: Kevin Duckworth

After my self imposed exile from Maine Rd due to the intolerance of some Yobbish City fans, I decided to give it another try against Wimbledon, albeit in the executive suite in the Umbro. Wimbledon are a dreadful team and hopefully doomed to relegation. I wasn't so much impressed by the City performance but more by the attitude of the fans and therefore decided to try again on Saturday.

Make no mistake, Villa were a good side. They came to Maine Rd with the sole objective to obtain 3 points. They played a 5-2-3 formation with the full backs going forward. This created more difficuly for Edghill who seemed to be covering the midfielder coming from the inside right and Gary Charles on the right wing.

Villa began the game by nearly scoring in the first 15 seconds though Johnson who was a threat throughout the game. City immediately came back to win a corner. After 10 minutes you would have found no-one in the ground who would bet on 0-0. My own feelings were that City would have to score at least twice to obtain a result.

So the game developed, with both sides having short periods of dominance in the first half until suddenly the tide turned to allow the opposition to take control. City had a penalty which Curle missed. Flippin' eck Curley, don't you know goals are like golddust?

This is where credit should go where it is due. The fans were incredible from then on, urging their team on to inspire the players who inturn caused greater excitement in the stands. (With the exception in the first half of some Turkey screaming at Edghill for standing off Charles rather than getting in his shorts).

For all the superb play, with 15 minutes to go I would have been content with a draw. Kinky's goal, well I will let someone else describe that.

Performances

Immel      8 Saved us on a few occasions. The way he came out to block
             shots shows he must have been inspired by Bert Trautmann
             who opened the Kippax Stand before the game.
Brightwell 7 Not much to say which shows how dependable he must have
             been at right back.
Edghill    7 had his work cut out in the first half as Villa seemed to
             be targeting the inside right and right wing. Coped well
Curle      7 Aside his penalty miss, made a couple of errors that could
             have proved costly. Mainly solid
Symons     8 Steady as a rock. Good old centre half. If in doubt welly
             it into touch.
Lomas      8 Best I have seen him play, sharp in the tackle, good runs
             down the inside left channel.
Flitcroft  8 Teamed up with the other two middies and now starting
             to play a leading role for the blues. Before with the
             likes of Reid and McMahon, he would go into a Shell.
Kinkladze  8 A joy to watch. If he was playing against City I would
             crap myself everytime he went on a run. Faded in the
             second half for a short while.
Rösler     6 A bit worried about his form,was easily martialled by
             the Villa defence.
Quinn      9 Won nearly every ball in the air and on the ground.
             His layoffs found the oncoming middi nearly every time.
             This is one of the reasons why City are getting it together
             is because the defence, midfield and forwards are playing
             like a unit.