Early in the second half Cole drove a shot narrowly past the post, after he was released by Stephen Ireland's inventive pass. After a woeful first-half showing, Villa proved less brittle after the interval. That change had much to do with the introduction of Berger, whose ability to cross the ball from the left began to unsettle Villa. On 65 minutes a Berger cross eluded James, allowing Ridgewell to bundle the ball across the line. Unfortunately for Villa, Berger limped off with an injury with a quarter of an hour to go. With Villa's main threat out of the game, City regained control of the game and Cole's shot - deflected off Mark Delaney, restored their two-goal lead. Final score: Man City3-1 Aston Villa.
A very impressive victory for Man City which now lifts them to fourth in the league. City controlled most of the procedings apart from a little spell in the second half when Villa pressed and scored. Villa are on the verge of a take over and I wonder how much that, that played on the Villa players minds. Great stuff from Vassell and it wasn't any surprise he scored against the club he spent 15 years at. Man City's Stephen Ireland really played well tonight and he has done for the past few weeks.
