Only City could put us through this

Reporter: Chris Lynham
Date published: 14 May 2012


‘TYPICAL City’ is a phrase which has been thrown about with reckless abandon over the years.

But fair enough, it can be applied with bells on after the most dramatic end to a Barclays Premier League season on record.

If I was a betting man I would place money on the words 'typical' and 'City' ringing in the ears of those donning blue at the Etihad Stadium as time ticked by with visitors QPR – down to 10 men – leading 2-1.

City – with the best home record in the league this term – were simply not at the races against the side with the worst away form this campaign.

We are used to false dawns and broken promises so you can probably forgive us for being tense in the first 45 minutes. A Pablo Zabaleta goal broke the deadlock before the break and those 20 glorious minutes at the interval felt good. We were on the edge of glory.

QPR were level within a couple of minutes of the restart through Djibril Cisse and, after Joey Barton was sent off for the away outfit, the London team did the improbable by going in front through Jamie Mackie.

It sounds sad, but we had seen it all before; the Etihad Stadium was dead and somewhere deep down we were adding this to the long, long list. By the 85th minute I was surrounded by many an empty seat.

I treated Edin Dzeko's 92nd-minute equaliser here with indifference, and questioned the sanity of those who got excited.

But fast-forward 180 seconds: we hailed Sergio Aguero's title-winning effort with ecstasy.

As grown men unashamedly wept, Aguero had wiped out 44 years of hurt with City's 44th shot of the match.

You can guess the rest.




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