First away day

I've been a City fan since i was 9 years old, been going to games since i was 21 (ish). At first i went when i could afford it, a game here and a game there up until about 5 years ago, then i started going quite regular, enough to make me invest in a season ticket and this is my third season holding that ticket. In all that time though i have never really done away games. I have been to some over the years but an amount you could probably count on one hand so obviously i didn't attend our game at Bolton.

I have spoke to my son about attending a few more away games and we'd even discussed buying tickets for this game until we realized that my Grand daughter was being Christened on the same day so it soon became apparent that it wasn't going to be allowed. To make things worse i didn't even get to see most of the game as i was DJ for the party after the church. Eventually though, the crowd did begin to thin and  I was able to bang on a play list and catch the majority of the second half.

As i mentioned in my first blog, it was good to see Silva shooting and getting on the score sheet so it was pleasing again when he scored vs Bolton, this time getting a bit of luck that he hadn't got in the first half vs Swansea, when his shot from the edge of the box was spilled  by the usually very dependable Jaaskelainen. Silva reminds me a lot of my very favourite City player, Gio Kinkladze. The way he runs with the ball as if attached to his feet and leaves players dizzy when he ties them in knots brings back memories of THAT goal at main road vs Southampton, so David Silva having a good season and scoring goals will make me very happy.

Another player in City blue that i think gets unnecessary stick from some city fans is Gareth Barry. I don't understand why, his passing is great and he breaks up play in midfield like he's supposed to. You don't become a regular in the England team if you are as crap as some fans try to make him out . He is also very versatile as he can play left midfield or even left back. Anyway, i just hope his long range screamer of a goal today changes the mind set of the said fans. It was every bit as amazing as Aguero's vs Swansea but unless you are an expensive foreign signing or you play in red you don't get the same sort of plaudits that this goal really does deserve.

Bolton at the reebok is always going to be a hard game and despite City having a lot of possession, The home team are always going to make chances and have spells and they managed to pull one back before the break to make it 2-1. The second half started well though and Edin Dzeko fired City's third goal, his second in as many games ( four in the last four if you count the last two pre season friendlies vs Inter and United). Fueling even more my belief that this is going to be Dzeko's season. 3-1 now and maybe Mancini's comments after the match about us "not concentrating" are right as we switched off and allowed Davis to get a second for Bolton and make it 3-2 and also make me a little bit nervy. Again the "we're gonna mess this up" feeling surfaced, but we didn't, we managed to grind out this result and make it two in two and six points from six and put us at the top of the premier league.

Now again i'm not going to get carried away. We need to be getting results against the "top four" teams before we start to do that, but this is a pleasing start and Bolton away is a different game to Swansea at home, but the old saying "you can only beat what is put in front of you" comes to mind and we've done that now, twice."You're only as good as your last game" is another saying and City and Bolton both won their opening fixture 4-0 so this was always going to be interesting. 4-0 or 3-2 i don't mind either way, as long as we win and come away with the points I'm not to bothered in what fashion we do it.

Another player who deserves a special mention from this game (from what I've now seen and read) is James Milner. Another under achiever in Blue since his arrival, but that's more down to lack of playing time than anything else maybe, but i thought he pushed Silva for the man of the match award today. Plus Tevez made an appearance from the bench today so maybe we won't "Miss him to much" or "depend on him" to much as the gutter press tries to make out we do. Our first "real" test comes next week, away to spurs. This fixture last season bought the very best from Joe Hart who kept the scoreline (somehow) 0-0. Last season we pipped them to top four, the season before they pipped us to top four, so spurs away is probably a different proposition to what we've played so far, but for now, for the second game running, I am a happy blue.

Thanks for reading.