Tevez Steals The Show

Manchester City 2 - Manchester United 1
Scorers
Manchester City: Tevez (pen 42, 66)
Manchester United: Giggs (17)

Team: Van der Sar, Brown, Evans, Rafael (Diouf 90), Evra, Carrick, Fletcher, Anderson (Owen 72), Valencia (Scholes 88), Giggs, Rooney

Good game by the boys in red, but we came away trailing from the 1st leg of the Mickey Mouse Cup by a goal against rivals Shitty. We showed plenty of good and hard work in the 90 minutes played. Shay Given had a blinder and on any other given day, we could have buried the tie here. With all their newfound riches, Shitty are still shitty. Without the help of Mike Dean who made a criminal decision to award Shitty a penalty in the late stages of the first half, we would have won this tie in a canter.

Yet on the final count, we only have ourselves to blame for conceding a second in the second half with some miserable defending. At least we gave a really good account of ourselves with a rousing end to the game although it yielded no results. There is still a second leg to be played in a week's time and if all things remain the same, and the players show the same amount of desire, I'm pretty sure of a positive result.

We started the game well, almost completely dictating the pace of the game and rightfully went into the lead with a Giggs tap-in after Given had punted Rooney's effort onto his own defender. We had the early lead and were cruising. Shitty were not even in the game.

Pretty much against the run of play and a criminal decision by referee, Mike Dean, allowed Shitty back into the game. Rafael's foul was clearly outside the box, but Dean pointed to the spot and Tevez levelled the scores.

In the second half, it was Tevez who once again proved to be the bane of the United goal with a simple header after the entire United defense went walkabout in the outback admiring the kangaroos. Shameful defending.

At least this time, we responded positively. We peppered the Shitty box with crosses and only Given stood in our way. Rooney must have been the most frustrated man on the pitch. He had a hatful of chances thwarted by the former Newcastle custodian. Shitty were so overwhelmed that the last 15 minutes was played exclusively in the Shitty half, as they packed every available body into the area.

In the end, Shitty barely held on to the precious, yet slender lead to bring to Old Trafford next week. We might not get the result at OT, but if we play anywhere near the kind of intensity we did today, I have no doubts we would be able to beat this very mediocre Shitty team.