Given happy to play the quiet revolutionary

NOBODY is quite sure exactly where Manchester City’s revolution is going to end up.

However, one thing is clear: whatever direction it goes in, Shay Given will be leading it from the front. Albeit quietly.

City’s current unbeaten run of eight Premier League matches – and certainly their 2-1 victory over Chelsea on Saturday – is not down to one of their ludicrously inflated summer signings but the Lifford-born goalkeeper who continually shuns the spotlight, apart from the odd star turn here and there.

And he has never been at the top of the bill more than he is at present.

When Frank Lampard had an 82nd-minute penalty to equalise for Chelsea during a compelling encounter at Eastlands, City’s fate could not be determined by a £25m Emmanuel Adebayor or a £32m Robinho.

No glamour boy could save them now. Only Given. And he did so magnificently, dropping to his right to snuff out Lampard’s weak effort and end Chelsea’s hopes of a point as they lost consecutive matches for the first time since Carlo Ancelotti took over as manager in the summer.

City’s victory ended a run of seven straight draws and dispersed at a stroke the ever mounting pressure on manager Mark Hughes. The Welshman was quick to praise his goalkeeper afterwards, even if Given was far more comfortable once more retreating to the wings.

He preferred to thank the entire City squad and goalkeeping coach Kevin Hitchcock for his penalty save rather than take the deserved glory himself.

Hitchcock studies all teams prior to a match and advised Given on how to tackle a penalty situation if Lampard did step up. It is safe to say his student received top marks on Saturday evening.

“It’s been a few games since we had a victory in the Premier League, so it’s especially nice to get the win against Chelsea,” he said.

“Kevin Hitchcock has to take a lot of credit for me saving the penalty.

“He did his homework on Lampard, so I think he deserves the credit. But this is a huge three points for us and we deserved it.

“We followed on from beating Arsenal in the Carling Cup on the Wednesday night and produced the same work-rate and effort throughout the team and that showed.”

Hughes was delighted with Given but claimed that he is so good that nothing surprises him about the 33-year-old anymore.

“You half expect him to do what he did for us today,” he said. “Top keepers will save you games, keep you in games when the team is not playing particularly well and allow you to get back into the game and Shay is one of the best at that.”

He may be one of the best but that does not make him entirely impenetrable as City found out as early as the eighth minute in this fixture.

After Didier Drogba misdirected a header, the ball fell to Branislav Ivanovic but his close-range effort was somehow kept out by Given before he then also brilliantly blocked Nicolas Anelka’s follow up.

It was then that it all started to unravel, though, because after denying Anelka, the ball deflected onto Adebayor and back past Given to give Chelsea the lead.

Chelsea looked determined to repeat the mauling they delivered to Arsenal last week yet City refused to be as cowed and Nigel de Jong had his finest performance for the club as he urged and cajoled City onwards.

His efforts, and the tireless running from Adebayor and Tevez, paid off shortly before the break when a Shaun Wright-Phillips effort was deflected into the path of Adebayor and he atoned for his earlier own goal with a smart finish.

Replays showed the ball hit Micah Richards hand after the initial shot but that went unseen by the officials. On such things can games, even seasons, turn.

The game was there for the taking after the restart but the teams neutralised each other and the attacking prowess from both sides diminished on a surface that was becoming ever greasier due to the elements.

However, it was City who seized the day more effectively after Ricardo Carvalho was harshly judged to have fouled on the edge of the box.

Petr Cech seemed to set an odd-looking defensive wall with a huge gap and it was to prove his undoing as Tevez’s curler took a slight deflection and left the Czech clutching at thin air for what proved to be the winner.

But the radio stations and pubs of Manchester were not talking of Tevez on Saturday night.

Fans were talking about Given but they will hear little back in return. He will leave them to it and let performances like this one continue to speak for him.

REFEREE: Howard Webb (Yorkshire) 6: Was not at his best and Ancelotti did have a point but controlled a tempestuous occasion in as controlled a way as possible.

MATCH RATING: *** It was not the prettiest of encounters but that did not stop it being nervy and compelling. Decent entertainment and plenty to discuss.