Taylor foils Keegan as victory still eludes City

Manchester City 0 Birmingham City

After the euphoria of their midweek recovery at Tottenham, this match was always going to be an anti-climax for City. And this being City, they made a thorough job of it.

If ever there was a case of "after the Lord Mayor's Show'', this was it. City had umpteen chances to record their first League victory since 1 November, and blew them all.

Two purple patches, one in each half, had Birmingham on the ropes, but they could not find the killer punch. Knocking Spurs out of the FA Cup so dramatically had clearly sapped their striking power.

Birmingham did not even get in a shot until the second half, so hanging on for a point almost qualified as a recovery for them. The man they had to thank was their goalkeeper, Maik Taylor, who was signed by the City manager, Kevin Keegan, for Fulham. Yesterday, he returned to haunt him. "Taylor had a fantastic game," Keegan said. "He made some saves no goalkeeper has any right to make."

Indeed, Taylor literally kept Birmingham alive single-handedly as City piled forward in the second half, desperate to maintain the goalscoring touch they discovered so dramatically at White Hart Lane. For the first 15 minutes City seemed to be catching their breath after their midweek exertions, but they rediscovered their momentum midway through the first period.

Shaun Wright-Phillips, overlapping dangerously down the right and linking up well with the injured Nicolas Anelka's replacement, Jon Macken, was the driving force. He almost picked out Macken unmarked on the six-yard line, and then found Robbie Fowler on the edge of the box, but the striker's touch let him down, as it would all afternoon, and he shot wide.

Macken then laid the ball back to Antoine Sibierski, City's most ambitious marksman, whose header was going in until Taylor got a hand to it on the line. He was to deny the midfielder twice more before the half-time whistle went.

After the break, he just got better. He plucked a header from City's on-loan signing Daniel van Buyton, who looked both cool and creative at the heart of the defence, from under the bar, before pulling off a stunning double save.

The substitute Steve McManaman set up Macken, whose shot was blocked. Sibierski latched on to the rebound and it was heading for the corner of the net before Taylor turned it on to a post. "He has been fantastic for us all season," his manager, Steve Bruce, said. "He made three or four amazing saves today."

Even when Michael Tarnat's shot was deflected by Olivier Tébily, Taylor managed to get his body behind it, and with Fowler, Macken and Sibierski wayward with other chances, City's hopes dribbled away.

Birmingham were generally content to soak up the pressure but they became more adventurous as the half wore on and Mikael Forssell and the substitute Jamie Clapham had chances to score.

The best opportunity, though, fell to Damien Johnson but he snatched at his shot and put the ball narrowly wide of David James's upright.

"If he'd stuck that one away it would have been an injustice," Bruce said. "We were poor in the first half and got a bit better in the second. But a point keeps us in the top 10, which is where we have been all season."

City, though, desperately need to win again. "We may have to do it against one of the big boys now," Keegan said. He is right. Next up are Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United.

Manchester City (3-5-2): James 5; Dunne 5 (Sun Jihai 5, 55), Van Buyton 6, Distin 5; Wright-Phillips 7, Bosvelt 4 (Barton 4, 70), Sibierski 6, Tarnat 5, Reyna 5 (McManaman 4, 70); Fowler 4, Macken 6. Substitutes not used: Arason (gk), Jordan.

Birmingham City (4-4-2): Taylor 8; Tébily 5, Purse 5, Cunningham 5, Kenna 5 (Clapham 5, 70); Johnson 6, Savage 6, Hughes 4, Lazaridis 4; Forssell 5 (Morrison, 78), John 5 (Dugarry 4, h-t). Substitutes not used: Bennett (gk) Upson.

Referee: P Durkin (Dorset).

Booking: Birmingham City: Tébily.

Man of the match: Taylor.

Attendance: 46,967.