City continue winning ways

Manchester City 1 Birmingham 0

The boy from Brazil kept Manchester City riding high with his fourth goal in three games for the club.

Elano shrugged off any lingering effects of jet lag after playing for his country in midweek by maintaining his superb domestic form.

He is fast becoming a cult figure at Eastlands after arriving in the summer from Shakhtar Donetsk.

Yet Birmingham felt the goal in the 37th minute should not have stood, claiming Fabrice Muamba was fouled by Michael Johnson in the build-up.

The City midfielder then released Vedran Corluka and he set up Elano, who applied a cool finish.

It was enough to give City their sixth successive home win and condemn Birmingham to a third successive league defeat.

Yet the visitors played with a lot of spirit and will feel they deserved at least a point.

For City this was another bright performance under manager Sven-Goran Eriksson.

While England may have suffered in midweek, the former coach is enjoying a new lease of life in club football.

They had to be patient however and Elano’s goal was their first real effort on target.

Birmingham manager Steve Bruce could hardly believe it and was constantly agitated on the touchline.

However his side quickly regained their composure and Olivier Kapo should have equalised a minute later.

He found himself clear in the area but his weak shot failed to test goalkeeper Joe Hart.

City were growing in confidence with Martin Petrov adopting a shoot-on sight-policy. However his 25-yard effort in the 43rd minute failed to test Maik Taylor.

City made a bright start to the second half and Petrov tried a dipping half-volley from distance but saw his ambitious effort go wide of the target.

Birmingham swept back downfield and Gary McSheffrey delivered a corner from the left. Rafael Schmitz got away from his marker but headed over the bar.

It was City, however, who were looking the more dangerous side going forward.

Petrov whipped in a corner in the 52nd minute that Stephen Kelly did well to clear at the back post.

There was a moment of anxiety for City when defender Micah Richards took an awkward fall and lay prostrate on the turf.

However he quickly recovered and resumed his place alongside Richard Dunne at the back.

City’s enterprising start to the season was reflected in a crowd of 45,688 at Eastlands.

Petrov almost added a second in the 60th minute, cutting inside before delivering a shot that Maik Taylor did well to take cleanly.

City boss Eriksson decided to freshen things up in the 65th minute, bringing on Georgios Samaras for the tiring Emile Mpenza.

Samaras immediately made a nuisance of himself and the ball broke to Petrov but he sent his effort over the bar.

Elano almost added a second in the 71st minute, his powerful drive from 20 yards whistling past the post after he had been set up by Petrov.

With only one goal in it, City fans were getting edgy and Kapo came close to equalising.

He saw his effort come back off Hart’s chest then Richards cleared off the line from Schmitz.

Birmingham were playing with plenty of spirit and substitute Garry O’Connor rattled in a shot that Corluka did well to block but they were unable to secure an equaliser.

However Bruce, whose own future is in doubt, will no doubt take a number of positives from this performance.