Everton 1 Man City 0: Darron Gibson goal continues Roberto Mancini's Merseyside misery

31 January 2012 22:18
Former Manchester United midfielder Darron Gibson boosted his old club's title chances by firing Everton to a stunning win over Manchester City.[LNB]Gibson lashed home his first goal since quitting Old Trafford earlier this month as the Barclays Premier League leaders slipped up at Goodison Park.[LNB]The visitors hit the bar in the first half through Samir Nasri but Everton, who earlier saw a Denis Stracqualursi effort cleared off the line, again proved stubborn opposition for City.[LNB] Screamer: Darron Gibson lets fly to put Everton ahead[LNB] [LNB]MATCH FACTSEverton: Howard, Neville, Hibbert, Heitinga, Baines, Donovan, Gibson, Fellaini, Drenthe (Baxter 78), Cahill, Stracqualursi (Vellios 88). Subs not used: Mucha, Gueye, Barkley, Forshaw, Duffy.[LNB]Booked: Drenthe, [LNB]Man City: Hart, Richards, Kompany, Lescott (Kolarov 68), Clichy, Barry (De Jong 86), Milner (Johnson 62) Silva, Aguero, Nasri, Dzeko. Subs not used: Pantilimon, Zabaleta, Savic, Razak. [LNB]Booked: Kompany, Lescott.[LNB]Referee: Peter Walton.[LNB]Attendance: 29,856.[LNB]Click for the latest Premier League tables, fixtures and stats[LNB][LNB]City had won just one of their previous 13 league visits to Everton and the extension of that poor record left them top of the table only on goal difference.[LNB]Manager Roberto Mancini was again frustrated by another controversial decision as his team were denied a late penalty for handball by Phil Neville but referee Peter Walton ruledany contact accidental.[LNB]It was an eventful contest which also saw a bizarre interruption when a protester chained himself to a goalpost.[LNB]Everton were buoyed by their capture of striker Nikica Jelavic from Rangers, which was confirmed during the game and the Croatian was paraded at half-time.[LNB]David Moyes reshuffled his back line with veteran full-back Tony Hibbert, in the continued absence of SylvainDistin and Phil Jagielka, coming in at centre-half in place of 20-year-old Shane Duffy.

Source: Daily_Mail