Holloway gets biblical as City rise to second

Blackpool 2, Manchester City 3

Carlos Tevez steered Manchester City to second place in the table — but Ian Holloway claimed the striker was lucky to get a brace.

The Blackpool manager complained after the 3–2 home defeat that Tevez was offside for his first goal and committed a foul against Ian Evatt in the build–up to his second.

Holloway was also aggrieved that Gary Taylor–Fletcher had a ‘goal’ disallowed by referee Phil Dowd in the second half with the scores level.

Holloway said: “The big decisions swung the game their way and Goliath has just walked off with all three points.

“David has been left to fill his slingshot. I wonder what the score would have been otherwise.”

Blackpool carved out a number of chances only for Tevez to make the breakthrough in the 67th minute, getting in front of Craig Cathcart to force the ball in after substitute David Silva had played it across.

Holloway, serving a one–match touchline ban, saw his side equalise in the 78th minute with substitute Marlon Harewood guiding a header into the corner.

The home side’s celebrations lasted only a minute with Tevez regaining the lead for City. He nicked the ball of Evatt and rifled in a shot that took a deflection off Cathcart for a 28th goal in his last 31 games.

Silva added a glorious third in the 90th minute with a mazy run into the area before Taylor–Fletcher got a second for the home side in stoppage time.