Blackburn 2 Manchester City 0:As Mark Hughes embraced his Blackburn players at the final whistle Stuart Pearce stood on his own, staring into space and presumably wondering whether or not he will be sacked this morning.
After four straight Premiership defeats, Pearce needed City to win here but, despite being reduced to 10 men for the final 20 minutes, Blackburn rarely looked in danger of missing out on a semi-final place which can only enhance Hughes' already burgeoning managerial reputation.
In marked contrast, a City insider confirmed that this latest defeat leaves Pearce "on extremely thin ice" and, ominously, many of the symptoms which invariably precede sackings were present. Quite apart from sincere words of sympathy from his old friend Hughes - and how the pair's fortunes have diverged since they shared a Warwick University classroom while studying for a diploma in football management - there was the old cliche of stewards having to rugby tackle a disgruntled fan to the ground as he headed for a technical area remonstration with the former England left-back.
Certainly Pearce - who some feel will be given the Premiership games against Chelsea and Middlesbrough to put things right - seems to be struggling to motivate and discipline his team. They barely tested Brad Friedel and certain visiting players, most notably Bernando Corradi, looked distinctly disinterested. While that accusation could certainly not be levelled against Joey Barton, the England hopeful hardly distinguished himself with a first-half stamp on Tugay that was arguably worthy of a red card and later faced accusations that he had lowered his shorts in front of angry fans.
Barton is one of a handful of players Richard Dunne, City's captain, claims is being betrayed by team-mates, mainly Pearce's foreign signings, who apparently lack commitment to the cause. Dunne's comments, made in yesterday's papers, hardly appeared to have bolstered already fragile team morale.
City had arrived with a five-man back line and the clear intention of subduing David Bentley and Morten Gamst Pedersen on Blackburn's wings and, initially, this game plan worked a treat. Yet almost imperceptibly, City started losing a little of their shape and organisation and Stephen Ireland, who had started brightly, faded out of things in central midfield.
By now Sun Jihai and Michael Ball's concentration at full-back had begun to wander a little and a warning was sounded when Bentley whipped a menacing right wing cross in. With Micah Richards badly misjudging his attempted clearance, Matt Derbyshire was offered a free header and should have done better than direct his effort narrowly off target.
Significantly, Blackburn took the lead following another cross, this time delivered right footed from the left by Stephen Warnock. Having permitted Pedersen to flick it on, City negligently allowed the ball to bobble around the area and, after Sylvain Distin had spurned an opportunity to clear the danger, it bounced kindly for Aaron Mokoena who claimed his first goal for Rovers by dispatching a half volley into the bottom corner.
City were given brief hope when Mokoena was sent off for his second booking, a clumsy foul on Corradi but it was no surprise when Derbyshire met Sergio Peter's cross to sweep home Blackburn's second and quite possibly shorten Pearce's City tenure.
Guardian Service
