False dawn for City as Fowler fails to shine

Manchester City 1 West Bromwich Albion

Manchester City, as their manager Kevin Keegan pointed out, have suffered more than their fair share of false dawns, so this result should surprise no one. Yet it is harder to find a party falling so flat even in their up-and-down history.

Yesterday was supposed to be about the Maine Road crowd luxuriating in City signing the player described by Keegan as "the best finisher I have ever seen". Instead of being able to praise Robbie Fowler, however, they watched a tame surrender to a side who hitherto could barely score away from home, never mind win.

West Bromwich Albion, bottom of the table at the start of the day, had triumphed in only one of their previous 18 Premiership matches and had not scored a goal on their travels for going on six hours but, when you meet fickle City, a surprise is always in the offing. The Baggies even lost Jason Roberts to a sending-off 10 minutes from the end and they still hung on to claim all the points.

Goals from the defenders Neil Clement and Darren Moore gave Albion only their second away win of the season, while disappointing City scored through Marc-Vivien Foé (and even that might be attributed to an own goal for Phil Gilchrist). As for the £6m Fowler, he could hardly have been more anonymous if he had been the Scarlet Pimpernel.

Looking gaspingly short of fitness, the striker plucked from Elland Road's bargain basement completed a full game for the first time this season only to find the "dream combination" of himself and Nicolas Anelka falling short. He had only one attempt at goal and he managed to mis-hit that.

"He needs games, you can see that," Keegan said, "but he got through 90 minutes and he's not going to get fit on the bench or in training. Robbie has been signed for three-and-a-half years, not today, and that's what he'll be judged on."

Inevitably the attention focused on the home strikers, and the City defence began as if their concentration was further upfield, too. In the ninth minute they remained still as statues when Clement was given a free header from Jason Koumas's corner and they were saved only by the goalkeeper, Carlo Nash, sticking out a foot.

Pre-warned, they should have been pre-armed, but the same scenario happened 10 minutes later and this time Nash could not come to the rescue. The other difference was that this time Clement miscued his header, and it worked in his favour, the ball bouncing off the ground and into the roof of the net.

City had barely figured hitherto but they were stirred into life by this goal and equalised in the 23rd minute. Kevin Horlock had a shot deflected away for a corner and then crossed when it was played short to him. At the far post was Foé whose header, in conjunction with Albion's Gilchrist, was hardly hard and true either, yet it had enough about it to defeat Russell Hoult's dive, the ball just crossing the line via the post.

Fowler had been a peripheral figure until the 35th minute when Horlock's mis-kick found him 10 yards out. To be honest, his attempt at a finish was horrible, although the ball bobbled through Hoult and City were denied a second goal only by an offside flag raised as an alert Anelka pounced.

The game appeared to be heading for an undistinguished draw only to reach a climax full of incident. West Bromwich won the second of two corners in quick succession in the 77th minute, with Clement directing a header towards the far post. Djamel Belmadi tried to clear but failed and, as the ball dropped, Moore poked it into the net.

This was surprising enough, and Roberts made things more difficult for his team-mates by getting sent off after an off-the-ball incident that left David Sommeil rolling on the ground and clutching his face. It was 10 against 11 for the final 10 minutes and City poured forward, but Albion deservedly held on.

"We were told even before the season started that we were going down and this result gives us something to rally against that view," said Gary Megson, the West Bromwich manager. "People can't write us off now. Belief can come only through winning games and playing well, and that happened today."

Manchester City 1
Foé 22

West Bromwich Albion 2
Clement 18, Moore 71

Half-time: 1-1 Attendance: 34,765