Source: Daily_Mail
Man City 4 Sunderland 3: Santa Cruz at the double for Hughes' last stand
As a final act of defiance, it was pretty spectacular. Already aware Roberto Mancini will be in his job tomorrow morning, Mark Hughes dispensed with feeling like a victim and finally showed what he could have done at Manchester City given the chance. Too late, perhaps, but Hughes finally found the courage to axe his £67million wasters Robinho and Emmanuel Adebayor then sat back while his personal favourites Craig Bellamy and Roque Santa Cruz tore Sunderland apart. But there were also enough defensive cock-ups in the Manchester City penalty area to explain why watching chairman Khaldoon had decided to replace Hughes with an Italian. Off to a flyer: Roque Santa Cruz's strike (above) was soon followed by Carlos Tevez's penalty At least the departing City manager could wave farewell to all sides of Eastlands after the final whistle knowing he was leaving with the team in sixth place - the target set by his bosses at the start of the season. A Manchester City club statement afterwards made it clear the owners did not think they were getting value for money having given Hughes £200m in 16 months, half of it to sign stellar names like Carlos Tevez, Adebayor and Gareth Barry in the summer. It read: 'The targets were agreed as a result of the player acquisition strategy of the club being radically accelerated in the summer as a result of very favourable conditions for any buying club. 'A return of two wins in 11 Premier League games is clearly not in line with the targets that were agreed and set.' Goodbye: Mark Hughes waves to the crowdHughes understandably dodged any post-match questions but won support from Sunderland manager Steve Bruce, a former Manchester United team-mate who fell out with Sparky when he poached Mark Bowen from Bruce's Birmingham City. Bruce had sympathy for Hughes on this occasion, saying. 'It is ridiculous. How can we encourage young coaches to go into the game when this happens? Nothing surprises you in football but I'm very disappointed for Mark.' At least Hughes bowed out with a real humdinger of a victory. Santa Cruz justified his selection by poaching the opening goal after four minutes. And Craig Bellamy, sent off for diving last week, won a penalty when he was clipped by Nyron Nosworthy after 12 minutes, with Carlos Tevez burying the penalty. 'A wrong decision,' said Bruce, who wrote a letter of complaint about referee Andre Marriner sending off Kenwyne Jones six weeks ago and will now try to get the red card shown to Michael Turner in yesterday's game, chalked off. Typically, City then let Sunderland back into the game with dreadful defending. John Mensah was unmarked to head the visitors first goal and then Kolo Toure, perhaps the biggest flop of all Hughes's signings, miskicked to allow Jordan Henderson to equalise. Bellamy, a Hughes devotee, shot City back in front before the interval, only for Jones to head another equaliser just past the hour mark when he got goal-side of Vincent Kompany. Walking in the air: Kolo Toure and Lee Cattermole collide The equaliser brought Bruce into his technical area, shouting and kicking every ball while Hughes, not surprisingly, looked muted in comparison. But at least the City boss did manage to pump his fist in understated celebration when City netted the seventh and ultimately match-winning goal of an incredible afternoon after 69 minutes. Once again, it was Santa Cruz who netted and once again the Paraguay striker did not have to do very much to get on the scoresheet. Pablo Zabaleta fed Barry and as Sunderland vainly appealed for offside as the England man put the ball across, Santa Cruz had another tap-in. The visitors' misery was then compounded in injury-time when Turner was shown a straight red card for catching Barry in the face as he jumped for the ball. Ding dong Bellamy on high: City striker Craig scores his side's third goalBruce complained: 'It was a challenge between two of the most honest professionals you could meet. All that happened was Turner jumped higher. I might as well tell my centre-halves not to head the ball next time.' Robinho and Adebayor sat and watched on the bench, shivering as the snow fell. They know their time will come when Mancini arrives and the Abu Dhabi revolution goes up an extra few notches. But their role in Hughes' downfall, particularly Robinho's ill-mannered response to being substituted against Spurs on Wednesday, will not be easily forgotten by some City fans. Hughes stayed by the touchline at the end, shaking hands with and hugging all his players, perhaps chuckling at sending on Martin Petrov as his final subsitute rather than one of his Galacticos. He waved briefly to all four corners of the ground and then he was off. He leaves City in sixth place but the reality is that Mancini will have to finish a lot higher even to last as long as Hughes. VIDEO: Sunderland boss Steve Bruce calls Mark Hughes' sacking by Manchester City 'ridiculous'Crisis point: If Manchester City lose to Sunderland, Mark Hughes is on his way EXCLUSIVE: We back Hughes! Tevez hits out over pressure on bossSunderland boss Steve Bruce: We need to handle the pressureMANCHESTER CITY FC