Middlesbrough 0 Manchester City 2: Mpenza leads foreign legion to the rescue of Pearce
Monday, 19 March 2007
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Stuart Pearce barely allowed himself a sigh of relief after seeing his players help to save his job.
The Manchester City boss arrived at Middlesbrough on Saturday knowing a sixth successive Barclays Premiership defeat could signal the end of his two-year reign at Eastlands.
In the event, he returned across the Pennines with three points safely and deservedly banked and the cheers of the travelling supporters ringing in his ears.
That was in stark contrast to the mood at Blackburn last weekend when the 7,500 City supporters who had made the trip to Ewood Park left Pearce and his players in little doubt as to their anger and disappointment.
But a man who never shirked a challenge during his distinguished playing days dismissed his swift change of role, from villain to hero, as an occupational hazard.
He said: "They have been good to me in general as a group of fans.
"I have been very, very fortunate over my career both as a player and as a manager.
"I have had great support around me from the board to the players, right across the board."
Victory at the Riverside eased City into 15th place in the league table, nine clear of the drop zone going into the break for international matches.
However, while Pearce was understandably delighted with a first Premiership win since New Year's Day - and a first for the club on Teesside in 30 years - he will swiftly turn his attention to the trip to Newcastle on March 31.
He said: "It will be nice to have a couple of days at home with my wife, and then it will be back into the club on Tuesday and build up from there."
Defeat was simply not an option for City, and they will have been buoyed when handed the Boro team-sheet and discovering Jonathan Woodgate and Mark Viduka had been rested ahead of tomorrow night's FA Cup quarter-final replay at Manchester United.
Viduka was belatedly introduced as a 64th-minute replacement for ineffectual full debutant Dong Gook Lee, but by that point the visitors were ahead and in no mood to surrender their advantage.
Having safely negotiated a tepid first-half display by the hosts during which both Joey Barton and Emile Mpenza might have put them ahead, Pearce's men got their noses in front on 61 minutes when defender Sylvain Distin latched on to Mpenza's header across the box and lashed the ball into the roof of the net.
It was just City's second goal in seven league games, and their third arrived with 12 minutes when Mpenza ran on to Barton's nicely-weighted pass to fire past Mark Schwarzer and wrap up the points.
Even the loss of England defender Micah Richards to a calf injury before the break could not dent the celebrations as Pearce and his players got their just rewards.
Barton's response to being left out of Steve McClaren's squad was to turn in an excellent individual display, but for his manager he was out-shone by 19-year-old midfielder Michael Johnson, a late addition to the squad.
Pearce said: "I thought Johnson was better, I thought Michael Johnson was outstanding for us considering it was his second full game.
"He was not even in the squad to travel yesterday until we got an injury.
"To be fair to (coach) Steve Wigley, he has been championing the boy's cause and said, 'put him in, put him in', and I thought he played well."
Asked about Barton's response to his England disappointment, Pearce said: "I spoke with him having spoken with Steve on Friday, and Joey had his tail up.
"He is one of those, you cannot knock the boy down, I will give him that.
"Whatever happens and whatever comes his way, he just brushes it aside and says, 'I know where I am going, I know what I want and off I go'.
"Whichever way it happens with Joey, he comes out with his tail up."
Boro boss Gareth Southgate was quick to accept responsibility for a poor display, but insisted there will be no repeat at Old Trafford.
He said: "That was a very uncharacteristic performance from us, especially over the course of the last three months.
"But I can understand why it happened and I am not going to sit here and hammer my players, because they have been brilliant for me.
"In the end, we have to pick ourselves up very quickly.
"We did not get the result we wanted, but we have got a fantastic game to look forward to on Monday in which we can put everything behind us."
