Albion undone by Anelka's fancy footwork

West Bromwich Albion 1 Manchester City

Shaun Goater saved Manchester City from embarrassment with a priceless rescue act in driving rain at The Hawthorns yesterday.

City's lack of discipline had briefly threatened to plunge them into the Premiership's bottom three after they handed the home side a second half lifeline.

But Goater pounced to finish off a move began by man of the match Nicolas Anelka in the 76th minute and move his side well clear of their relegation rivals.

City had thrown away a hard–earned lead 15 minutes earlier when Eyal Berkovic was penalised for breaking early from City's wall and an Albion free–kick was moved forwards 10 yards to the edge of their box.

Neil Clement stepped up to rifle Albion's equaliser low and hard past Carlo Nash and give his side hopes of salvaging the game. Berkovic had been the main instigator in City's opener just five minutes earlier.

City broke quickly after Clement had slipped on a shooting chance for Albion, with Sun Jihai's long ball upfield setting the Israeli clear down the right.

Berkovic raced to the goal–line and beat Darren Moore before cutting a precision pass across the face of goal where Anelka could not miss. Anelka turned provider to save City's blushes for the winner which was almost a carbon copy of their earlier strike.

He took the ball from Goater on the right and wriggled free of Albion's defensive attentions before knocking the ball back for the front man to sweep home.

Anelka had looked the only man likely to break the deadlock in a poor first half made grimmer by the driving rain. The visitors enjoyed most of the early possession against a home side clearly willing to attempt to stretch Kevin Keegan's porous defence on the counter–attack.

But chances were at a premium, with Marc–Vivien Foe directing a header wide from Berkovic's corner and Sylvain Distin's headed by Niclas Jensen's set–piece also squirming wide.

Anelka's trickery caused Albion plenty of problems down the right and he was only denied in the 26th minute first by a timely intervention from Darren Moore and then by a weak shot which trickled straight into Russell Hoult's arms.

Albion made few inroads with their first half chances coming only from Andy Johnson's long–range drive and Igor Balis' 30–yard free–kick, both of which were comfortably saved by Nash.

Albion were lucky not to go behind after Clement had equalised when Albion's stretched defence afforded Berkovic far too much space on the right again, but Hoult was alert to race from his goal and save.

After Goater's second goal of the season had given City the advantage again, Albion were forced upfield and almost fell further behind when Sean Gregan's backheader to Hoult caught the wind and sailed towards Goater, who volleyed over the bar.

Roberts wasted a great chance for the home side four minutes from time when he was played through by substitute Jason Koumas but failed to control the ball which bounced off his foot. Then Goater was guilty of a shocking miss after bearing down on goal following another Albion defensive lapse.

The match–winner was given the simplest of chances by Anelka's pass but somehow sidefooted against the base of the post from six yards. And there was still time for him to be denied by Hoult as Albion threw caution to the wind and left spaces at the back.

Luckily for Goater it did not matter as City held on for a valuable win and left Albion staring towards the abyss with just one point from six Premiership games behind them.

West Bromwich Albion 1
Clement 62

Manchester City 2
Anelka 51, Goater 71

Half-time: 0-0 Attendance: 27,044