Saints Boss Burley made two first team changes with Darren Powell coming in for the rested Claus Lundekvam and David Mcgoldrick getting a chance in the starting 11 after an impressive showing as a sub last week in the 2-0 win against QPR.
For City Joey Barton returned to the starting line up following a ban. Beasley the former saints transfer target had a place in the mid field but Trevor Sinclair missed out due to a ban.
1st Half
The home side started far the brighter side with Samaras and Barton having early half chances for Man City.
Saints were adopting a counter attacking style of play early on.
Saints first chance came on 14 minutes when Gareth Bale took a free kick, he crossed it into the box and it curled at goal, the city keeper had to tip it over for a saint`s corner, the resulting play came to nothing.
On 23 minuets Southampton took a shock lead when Davis played a hopeful punt forward over the City defence, the ball dropped to Kenwyne Jones who coolly lobbed it over Weaver in the Man City goal to make it 1-0 to saints.
But the lead didn`t last long and within 3 minutes of Southampton`s opener city were level. Trabelsi got away from his marker before playing a pass toVassell who turned Darren Powell and slotted it past Kelvin Davis to make it 1-1
City then pilled on the pressure for the following 10 minutes or so with Samaras going close on two occasions. Firstly some great play by Joey Barton gave Samaras a header on goal which looped onto the top of the net. Then only minutes later Samaras had a scuffed shot cleared off the line by Gareth Bale
Alexander Ostlund found himself in the book on 29minutes for a push on Joey Barton
After city`s 10 minute dominant spell the game turned very scrappy. The only chance of note was a poor shot by Southampton`s Pele from 30 yards which went straight into the keeper`s arms
2 minutes of stoppage time were given and Vassell became the second person into the refs book after a late challenge on Bale.
It looked like it was going for a 1-1 half time score but with the last kick of the game Ireland broke down the left before passing the ball of toJoey Barton who smashed it past Kelvin Davis to make it 2-1 to city.
Half Time Score – Manchester City 2 Southampton 1
2nd Half
After a very quite start to the second half it took until the 53rd minute to have the first half chance, which came courtesy of Man City`s Richards, who headed over the bar.
Saints first chance of the second half came when Southampton broke free down the left on 54 minutes through Bale, who crossed it onto the foot of Rasiak be he couldn`t get his shot on target and the shot went wide.
Kenwyne Jones made a frustrated tackle on Richards on 55 minutes and he found himself getting a yellow card. 5 minutes later Trebalsi got carded to for a challenge on Gareth Bale.
On 62 minutes a brilliant thrusting run by Gareth Bale got him in space on the left, he tipped it off to Jones but his shot was poor and was easy for the City keeper.
On 64 minutes Saints made a double substitution when Bradley Wright Phillips and Mario Licka came on in place of Gregorz Rasiak and Alexander Ostlund.
With 25minutes or so to go the game was very even, both sides were playing some nice football and both sides were having similar amounts of chances, at times you certainly couldn`t tell which side was the premiership side out of the two teams.
But on 71 minutes Damarcus Beasley scored for Manchester City, the ball was played in by Joey Barton and the ball was coolly lobbed over Kelvin Davis by Beasley to make it 3-1 to the home side.
Saints tried to hit back quickly but could only manage half chances from Bale and Pele.
City were now in complete control and Saints were looking and playing like a beaten side. On 83 minutes City nearly made it 4 when Ireland fired a half volley which pulled Davis into a smart save.
With 5 minutes to go Mcgoldrick had a have chance for the away side but his shot went high and wide.
On the 86th minute Joey Barton came off in place of Hammann, it appeared Barton had picked up a slight knock. And within two minutes City took of Vassell in place of Abdoun.
3 minutes of stoppage time were given.
In the first minute of stoppage time Gareth Bale managed to round 3 Man City players to get into the box, he fired a powerfull shot which Weaver tipped behind for a corner. The corner came to nothing.
There was still time for Davis to pull of a fantastic save from a point blank Miller header, he got up quick to tip it over for a city corner which came to nothing and the ref whistled for full time.
Full Time Score – Man City 3 Southampton 1
Line Ups
Man City Line Up
Weaver(Gk), Richards, Dunne, Distin, Trabelsi, Dabo, Barton, Ireland, Beasley, Vassell, Samaras
Subs – Hamann, Abdoun, Corradi, Miller, Isaakson(Gk)
Saints Line Up
Davis(Gk), Ostlund, Baird, Powell, Bale, Viafara, Wright, Pele, Mcgoldrick, Rasiak, Jones
Subs – Wright Phillips, Dyer, Makin, Licka, Bialkowski(Gk)
Summary
Saints were very simply beaten by a better quality side, at times Southampton looked good and for about 65 minutes they were probably preety even. But when it went 3-1 Saints never looked like getting back into it.
If Southampton do go on to get promoted they will obviosly need to improve the standard of the squad, to be fair most fans knew that before this game but it has really just been re-comfirmed.
Its difficult to be to hard on Saints really based on this game, Man City were better and they won the match so theres not much else to say really.
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