Manchester City 2 Newcastle Utd 1:ADAM JOHNSON'S cameo substitute appearance continued Manchester City's rise towards the top of English football but the referee, Martin Atkinson, played just as influential a role in a controversial victory, which left Newcastle United's playmaker Hatem Ben Arfa with a broken leg.
Ben Arfa was carried off in distress after five minutes following a challenge from City's Dutch international midfielder Nigel de Jong, a tackle which could most kindly be described as "full-blooded".
Opinion seemed divided as to the legality of the challenge, especially as Atkinson deemed it legitimate, and Newcastle manager Chris Hughton chose his words carefully afterwards, although there was little doubting the sub-text of his comments. "Everybody will have their own opinions, I'm quite sure, it's been shown enough times," said Hughton. "But my feeling was, at the time, it was a challenge that didn't need to be made . . . The best thing I can say was it was a challenge that didn't need to be made."
If Atkinson's decision-making was debatable in the incident, which left the Newcastle player with a broken leg although the specifics of the injury are still not confirmed, Hughton was in no doubt that the official erred seriously in two penalty calls. The first presented Carlos Tevez with the opening goal, after the forward was tackled by Mike Williamson; the second, with Newcastle trailing 2-1, saw Atkinson turn down their appeals after Joleon Lescott tripped Shola Ameobi.
"The referee has made two horrendous decisions," said Hughton.
"My first impressions were Mike Williamson had played the ball and also it was outside the box. They were confirmed when I saw it on TV. Then my first impression when Shola Ameobi went down was that his standing foot had been taken away from him and that was confirmed as well."
All of which detracted from the performance of Johnson. Three minutes after his introduction as a 72nd-minute substitute, Johnson collected a pass from James Milner, cut into the penalty area, evade two defenders, before beating Tim Krul with a magnificently judged shot into the far, bottom corner. The England winger has still to convince Roberto Mancini he is worthy of a regular starting berth. There have been mutterings of his need to concentrate more fully on his profession but there is little doubt that, handled in the correct manner, Johnson is an exciting talent.
Indeed, for all the money invested by City in recent seasons, only Tevez can match Johnson for the excitement he generates among home fans, who were calling for his introduction long before Mancini succumbed to their wishes and replaced one of his three holding midfielders in order to add width and flair to a team running out of ideas.
Newcastle looked well capable of emerging with at least a point, even after the 16th-minute incident which saw Tevez race ahead of Williamson, who appeared to have won the ball with his challenge, only for Atkinson to point to the penalty spot. Tevez took the penalty, a staggeringly well-hit effort down the centre of the goal for his fifth goal of the season.
Newcastle responded in spirited fashion. Fabricio Coloccini forced Joe Hart into a fine, diving save with a volley from the edge of the area, a minute before Jonas Gutierrez equalised after 23 minutes.
The Argentinian winger chipped in a cross which Vincent Kompany half cleared, allowing Gutierrez to respond rapidly, beating Kolo Toure to the rebound and dispatching a shot past Hart via the underside of the bar.
The game hung in the balance until Johnson's late impact.
Guardian Service
