Man City 1 - 0 Sunderland (McCartney s/o 15', Richards 56')

It took a rare Micah Richards goal to secure all three points against Sunderland, we made hard work of what should have been an easy victory.

Our current team certainly like to go about things in a dramatic manner, they kept us biting our nails for ninety minutes yet again today. We started off quite well today and it looked like we were going to breeze through the game, it didn't quite pan out like that.

There was a few important flash points today that could have changed the game. There were two big misses today, from two players I said in my pre match need to do better. First Shaun Wright-Phillips missed a glorious chance after going through on goal, then after Micah Richards was brought down by Malbranque in the box, Robinho missed a penalty in horrible fashion. Something that went for us today was Sunderland going down to ten men after fifteen minutes, George McCartney was shown a red for tugging back Shaun Wright-Phillips.

After all the early drama a goal was scored and we could slightly calm our nerves. A rejuvenated Micah Richards headed home from inside the box after Elano whipped in a good free kick. Micah Richards really deserved his goal today, he played fantastic and was probably our best player. He hasn't played to the high standards we have come to expect from him for a lot of this season, but in the last few games it seems like he has got his confidence back and it is proving beneficial to the team.

Along with Richards we had another couple of players that played well today. Nedum Onuoha was great again and is becoming a major part of our team, after seeing some of the rubbish called into the England squad, I am surprised Nedum didn't get a look in considering how good he has been playing. I also thought Nigel De Jong was very good today, he is excellent at breaking up the play in the midfield, isn't scared of a tackle and very very rarely gives the ball away when he is in possession. Last but not least I thought Bojinov put in a good performance up front, his movement is very good, he is strong, he can find a pass, he can shoot and he works very hard. I just hope he can stay fit and continue to impress.

It was another frustrating performance today from City, we weren't particularly bad but we should have cruised through the game, Sunderland were a poor team. Main aim was completed though, an important three points in the bag and hopefully a catalyst to push for that 7Th place.