City 1 West Ham 1

Another two points dropped and the concensus being another flat performance yesterday from ourselves, in a game which even Sven conceded we were second best but battled hard and stuck to the task to maintain our unbeaten home record this season.

Richard Dunne's contribution to the Titus Bramble school of defending put us on the back foot early on, and we relied on the interpretation of the 'grey area' of the offside law to allow Darius Vassell's equaliser to stand - very much a case of 'you win some, you lose some' and my view is that we dodged one here as (and this is despite being on the wrong end of a decision against Blackburn) if a cross is delivered into the box, how a player in offside position could be deemed to be not active is a mystery.

Still, equalise we did and whilst not as flat as Wednesday night the game struggled for any real momentum and it was a case of more smart keeping from Joe Hart and profligate finishing (once again) from West Ham ensured that the spoils were shared and we continued our bid for the European places.

Match reports:

Sven-Goran Eriksson was left frustrated as Manchester City surrendered further ground in the race for a coveted European berth after being held at home by a severely-depleted West Ham United side. - premierleague.com

West Ham was where Sven-Goran Eriksson's return to English football began. It started, without expectations, in the sunshine and finished with an improbable win for a side said to have been assembled from watching video clips. It was to trigger an improbable first half to the season. The return fixture found Manchester City ahead of where Eriksson might have expected them to be, but with the energy and ideas beginning to drain from them. - The Telegraph

Sven Goran Eriksson spoke more presciently than he probably anticipated when cautioning, amid the delirium of Manchester City's golden start to this season, that the real test would come in the depths of winter, when some of his imports were used to putting their feet up for a few weeks. The roller coaster has been slowing for some time and it had truly grounded here, in a game as grey as the soggy Manchester day which delivered it up. - Independent

IN not so far off years gone by, the Blues would have made a complete pig's ear of Groundhog Day! Not so under the wily Sven-Goran Eriksson, who has probably never heard the tales of `typical City'. The Blues boss will, however, be slightly perturbed by a third successive home league draw, that his jaded-looking side so lacked a cutting edge, and that his own goalkeeper was by far the busier of the two. - MEN

So we finally come to the end of our Manchester City tour and leave with our heads held very high(to answer one of the commenters, I was treating the 3 games in close succession as a group but yes we have played them 4 times). The match ended 1-1 but even City’s manager acknowledged our superiority and the shoddy officialdom which gave City their point. - West Ham blog

City kept their unbeaten home league record intact - just, with a hard-fought 1-1 draw with West Ham United at Eastlands. Darius Vassell cancelled out Carlton Cole's opener as the lacklustre Blues were fortunate to come out of the game with a point against Alan Curbishley's side. Another insipid display will have reinforced to Sven-Goran Eriksson the need for a top-class striker if City are to have realistic ambitions of a European spot come May. - Blueview

Alan Curbishley insisted during the week that there is no need to bring another striker into the squad. But after his side failed to win this afternoon despite controlling the game, questions marks will once again be asked about the lack of firepower available to the United boss. - Knees Up Mother Brown