The derby seems to bring the worst out of Villa, especially their goalkeepers, and ever a stickler for tradition, Sørenson followed suit with another howler yesterday. The Danish keeper allowed a fallow drive from Clinton Morrison to bounce over him after nine minutes as City made a perfect start at Villa Park. The defence followed suit nine minutes later, letting David Dunn to double the lead from eight yards and by the time Gareth Barry pulled a goal back in injury time, David O’Leary’s side’s hopes of winning their first derby since City rejoined the top flight in 2002, were over.
O’Leary has been suffering from illness for much of the past week, and his team began the game as if they were under a similar malaise. With Gavin McCann recovering from injury to take his place alongside Steven Davis, Villa’s midfield was clearly their strength and so City simply by-passed them with the long ball and Morrison, returned to the side after missing last weekend’s defeat by Manchester United, soon wreaked havoc against at hesitant Villa defence.
Olof Mellberg began the first half intent on looking unsteady enough to get Steve Bruce’s approval on his pre-match assertions that he could never join the Blues, and he and defensive partner Mark Delaney presented the visitors with a number of openings as Villa struggled to get a foothold in the game. Both were guilty of backing off when Morrison hit a hopeful effort from 20 yards straight at Sørenson on nine minutes, which the Danish goalkeeper contrived to dive beneath and City took the lead.
An abysmal mistake from Peter Enckelman effectively ended his Villa Park career two years ago but Sørenson is a better keeper and seemed convinced enough that the ball bobbled on the chalk of the six-yard box, not to let it effect his confidence too much. But nine minutes later, he was picking the ball up from the back of the net again. This time he was not at fault and could apportion the blame much more easily after his defence had allowed City to attack on the counter.
Jlloyd Samuel looked to have Damien Johnson’s right-wing run covered but decided upon an ill-timed pirouette as the midfielder cut inside and centred the ball to the waiting Dunn who applied an astute first-time finish to make it 2-0. But the fault was not all Samuel’s. The charge of ball-watching is often put to players, but Delaney takes the art of ball stare-out’s to a new level. When Dunn scored there were three defenders in the box but none were covering his run, especially Delaney who was apparently checking the chalk on the goal-line for his keeper. He is not a central defender. Sat on the substitute’s bench, Liam Ridgewell is.
Villa came back after that and Davis and McCann soon started bossing the midfield but the side’s incessant long balls were much more comfortably dealt with by the Blues’ defence and Juan Pablo Angel and Carlton Cole failed to force an opening. At the other end, although Emile Heskey struck against the post from a narrow angle with the interval approaching, Bruce’s side offered little in response, though in truth they did not have to – the damage had been done.
The second half began in the same vein, with Villa dominating possession and City threatening on the break. Barry twice found the back of the net but his efforts were disallowed on both occasions – first for blatant offside, the second for an even more obvious handball – before he finally pulled a goal back after controlling a long ball and striking a lovely shot past the flailing Maik Taylor.
By then it was the 92nd-minute though, and City had sealed the match long ago, so Villa must wait until the return fixture to end a run of five derbies without victory. By that time O’Leary might have some fresh faces to call upon, else his aversion to giving fringe players like Luke Moore and Ridgewell a chance, might finally be on the wane.
Man of the match: Steven Davis