Manchester City 1 Sunderland 0:Stephen Ireland may have the most suspicious hairpiece at Manchester City since the days of Peter Swales, his reputation may have been irretrievably damaged by the Peculiar Case of the Two Dead Grannies and it is fair to say he leads a complicated personal life, but there can be no disputing his value as a goal-scoring midfielder.
He, like all of Sven-Goran Eriksson's players, was not at his fluent best last night, but he is becoming an increasingly important figure for City and his splendid goal hoists the team into third position behind Arsenal and Manchester United.
As if magnetically attached to controversy, Ireland inexplicably chose the moment to lower his shorts, revealing a pair of blue underpants, in the goal celebrations. That might not be the last he has heard of that if the Football Association fails to see the funny side but, in mitigation, Ireland deserves credit for playing such an influential part in City's success this season while going through a series of personal crises off the pitch.
His second-half winner was hard on Sunderland, who otherwise had the measure of their opponents, but it means City have now won their opening seven league games at home for the first time in 105 years.
The primary objective for City, however, was to restore the momentum that was so rudely interrupted by the humiliation against Chelsea, so it was surprising and, for Eriksson, considerably disappointing that they began the game in such a low-key and almost deflated fashion.
Sunderland, without an away win all season, did not look like particularly formidable opponents, especially when considering the injury problems that had left Keane with only 16 fit outfield players.
Eriksson was entitled to be unhappy, therefore, that his team lacked any form of drive during a first half in which their opponents coped with ease.
The football in this period was dreary enough to remind City's supporters of those galling days at the end of Stuart Pearce's time as manager when the team somehow managed to go half a year without scoring a league goal on their own ground.
Pearce watched the game slowly unfold from his seat in the Colin Bell Stand and he must have been amused to see the reaction that was reserved for Keane, his former Nottingham Forest team-mate, when he ventured into the technical area for the first time. In the history of Manchester's sporting enmity, there have been few more notorious moments than a shaven-headed Keane driving his studs into Alfie Inge Haaland's kneecap at Old Trafford in 2001 and, in those frequent moments when there was precious little else to entertain them, City's unforgiving fans at least enjoyed the sideshow of reminding the former Manchester United captain he was on the wrong side of town. Keane, unflinching and indisputably the best turned-out manager in English football now that Jose Mourinho has gone from Chelsea, handled it with brilliant indifference, not a flicker of emotion crossing that pale, chiselled face.
Johnson did not reappear after the break, Ireland's usual sureness of touch deserted him for the first hour, while Martin Petrov wore black gloves and played as though he did not like the cold. Keane had also put Dickson Etuhu under instructions to make life as difficult as possible for Elano and, with Sunderland also struggling to find any creativity, the second half began as the first had finished before, finally, flickering into life.
Sunderland, unexpectedly, started to take command but then City scored with the first move of genuine class. It originated in midfield, with Petrov floating a long pass out to Javier Garrido on the left wing. His cushion header found Johnson's replacement, Darius Vassell, who turned neatly away from Nyron Nosworthy and crossed for Ireland to lash a diagonal volley past the goalkeeper, Craig Gordon. City did not look like the third best team in the country - but Sunderland are generous opponents away from Wearside.
MANCHESTER CITY:Hart, Jihai, Dunne, Corluka, Garrido, Ireland, Hamann, Johnson (Vassell 46), Petrov, Mpenza (Bianchi 57), Elano (Ball 82). Subs not used:Isaksson, Geovanni.
SUNDERLAND:Gordon, Nosworthy, Higginbotham, Collins, Harte, Stokes (Chopra 58), Miller, Etuhu, Leadbitter, Murphy (Wallace 58), Jones. Subs not used:Ward, Kavanagh, Connolly. Booked: Nosworthy.
Referee: Alan Wiley
