Don't think I'm going to get my hopes up too much as it's not the first time this season that we've performed well against one of the big teams. Usually this sort of game is followed by everyone starting to believe that we can pull ourselves away from the bottom 3, only for us to then lose to a team in the bottom half of the table the week after. I suppose though today was the first time for a while that our hard work and graft has paid off with a result against one of the top sides.
Very well-earned point today, couldn't really ask for anything more from the players and Neil set us up well. We defended resolutely throughout, keeping Aguero/Silva pretty quiet, and overall we probably had the better chances. Frustrating really that Dorrans chose to hit the ball first time with that chance towards the end, rather than taking a touch and lining it up properly. Nevertheless though we took a point, and considering that I didn't expect to get anything I'm not too bothered, although it has to be said Manchester City were nowhere near their best today.
I thought Howson was our Man of the Match for the 3rd game in a row, though as others have said O'Neil and Klose were both excellent as well. Bamford also had an impressive first half, before noticeably tiring in the 2nd. The main negative to come out of today is the injury to Redmond. Hopefully it's not too serious as he's found his form again recently and has almost become the most effective player in our attack. Also hoping that Naismith and in particular Brady are able to return next game. Frustrating how suddenly we seem to have quite a few first team players suffering with injuries, after having hardly any real injury problems all season.
Now come on boys, we desperately need to actually start building on these positive performances against big teams. Our run of 5 'winnable' games starts on Saturday against West Brom, and we can't afford to return to our habit of not turning up in the '6 pointers'.
