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Hart helps City hold Liverpool at a draw

Comment: 0 November 28th, 2011 by: admin

MANCHESTER City keeper Joe Hart was the man of the match after a series of deflections denied hosts Liverpool from taking three points at Anfield Sunday.

Arguably Hart’s highlight effort was a caution-to-the-wind save that swatted away a late Andy Carroll header that could have sealed the deal and handed the visitors their first Premier League defeat.

The keeper’s valiant efforts compensated for the lack of force exhibited by City (which would eventually be cut down to 10 men) against the Reds who showed lethal domination especially in the match’s second half.

Starting off with tense attacking and defending from both sides, the match produced its first major highlight as David Silva set up a Vincent Kompany goal by the 31^st minute, putting the visitors up front 0-1.

The celebrations from the City supporters however were cut short as two minutes later, a Charlie Adam shot going wide was deflected by City’s Joleon Lescott, sending the ball past Hart to equalise the game.

The match turned from tense to furious after that equaliser, but with Hart pushing back every Liverpool attempt to claim the lead.  His efforts included deflecting a shot by Stewart Downing that bounced off the ground and headed into the top corner.

Hart’s other saves came in response to efforts by Charlie Adam, Dirk Kuyt and Luis Suarez.

The definitive moment for Hart however came in the waning moments of the match via a dynamic save that met what would have been a damning header from Carroll.

Hart’s tenacity came as a blessing and perhaps the saving grace that spared the unbeaten record of a team who, after the antics of controversial striker Mario Balotelli, were reduced to 10 men.

Balotelli, whose 65^th minute entrance for Samir Nasri brought a wave of intimidation sweeping across the Kop, proved only to be a potentially damaging factor for the struggling visitors.

The controversial striker picked up a booking 12 minutes after entering the game for needlessly tugging on Glen Johnson.  This was then followed by an elbow to Martin Skrtel’s head in the 83^rd minute, giving the striker the second yellow that sent him off the field.

Balotelli was seen imploring to City manager Roberto Mancini, who seemed uninterested as he gestured for the striker to head to the tunnel and out of the Kop.

Despite holding off the current EPL leaders, Liverpool are forced to contend with the results as their fourth straight draw at Anfield.

Manager Kenny Dalglish expressed pride over his boys’ performance against City.

‘They started better than us but once we got into it, I thought we ran out the better team at the end,’ he told Sky Sports.

‘You could see their attitude in the second half, they were determined they weren’t going to lose it and they tried their very best to try and win it,’ Dalglish said.  ‘Unfortunately we just couldn’t get it over the line.’

The manager continued, blatantly stating that Liverpool deserved a win.

‘The performance was fantastic but I don’t think they got what they fully deserved.  I think they deserved the three points and we could quite easily have got it but we never.’

Mancini took a more sour note, saying Balotelli’s second yellow card was the result of Liverpool pressuring the referees.

‘I don’t think [the challenge against Skrtel] was a yellow card and I don’t think the referee thought it was a yellow card,’ he said.  ‘My impression was the referee gave a free-kick but didn’t want to give a yellow.  Then the Liverpool went over saying “Yellow card, yellow card”.  This is not correct.’

Rumours circulated that Balotelli had damaged City’s dressing room upon getting sent off; City stated afterwards however that there was in fact no damage.

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