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Manchester City 2-2 Fulham: Londoners Fight Back From Two Goals Down
The Citizens will be kicking themselves today.
Oct 25, 2009 1:03:38 PM
A lively game at Eastlands saw Manchester City spurn a two goal lead as Fulham came back to snatch a point and condemn Mark Hughes’ men to their third consecutive draw.
An entertaining first half saw the visitors waste two good early opportunities with Diomansy Kamara taking a heavy touch after beating the offside trap which allowed Shay Given to claim before Jonathan Greening fired wide.
However, the home side slowly began to dominate with Carlos Tevez heading just over the bar on the half hour mark from a Martin Petrov cross before Micah Richards did find the back of the net before seeing his effort disallowed just before the break.
Yet it was to be another defender, Joleon Lescott, who was to open the scoring early in the second half.
Fulham failed to clear a corner properly which allowed Emmanuel Adebayor to find the former Everton man who prodded hime from close range.
Less than 10 minutes later and the home side had doubled their lead through Martin Petrov. Gareth Barry found the Bulgarian on the edge of the box and he beat his defender before smashing a fine shot past Mark Schwarzer.
With their lead established it looked like a long way back for Fulham but within minutes they had grabbed a lifeline and a way back into the game.
Stephen Kelly out wide on the left crossed for Bobby Zamora who chested the ball into Damien Duff’s path and the Republic of Ireland international slotted a strong drive low and past Given.
City were rattled and five minutes later they found themselves back on level terms with Clint Dempsey putting a superb header past Given for the equalizer.
The goals seemed to fill Roy Hodgson’s men with confidence and they continued to press with Zamora shooting wide before Given saved Brede Hangeland’s header and Dempsey headed over.
Despite five minutes of stoppage time the visitors had to be content with a point, that looked unlikely at one stage but will undoubtedly please manager Hodgson after a busy week.
Mark Hughes, however, will be disappointed at watching his side spurn a two goal lead, particularly on a day when ground could have been made up on neighbors Manchester United.
Goal.com
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