City put on a brilliant performance at Ninian Park this afternoon against an Arsenal side, who were probably short of their best to be fair.Arguably, City could, and should have won. They certainly had the better of the first half, with McCormack, Bothroyd, Ledley and Parry all having great gilt edged chances but failing to even hit the target.
It wasn't all City though. Arsenal showed what we saw against Liverpool in the Carling Cup last year - breaking at pace, and several times only resolute defending kept the Gunners out - that and Peter Enckelman who was inspired in the City goal. His first half save against Samir Nasri was outstanding.
Inevitably, in the second half, Arsenal came into it more, and City, as so oftem happens dropped deeper and deeper. In fact, most of the second half we were just kicking the ball away, only for it to come back at us, rather than playing our way out of trouble. Encleman made two further great stops against Van Persie. City's chances were few and far between in the second period, but McCormack first brought a great save out of Fabianski with a long range effort, then clipped the bar from a free kick from distance.
In the end, a capacity 20,000 crowd were hugely satisfied to see City hold on for a draw and a luctrative trip to the Emirates. The only downside was in the last minute, City playing into the corner to wste time, rather than getting the ball into the middle to try and nick it - but perhaps recent memories of late goals conceded against Reading and Birmingham influenced that?
A great game, and every player was superb. My pick for MoM was Gavin Rae who was superb in midfield.
Up the City!
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