Soccer:Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini praised Edin Dzeko after the former Wolfsburg striker scored the winner against Blackburn at Ewood Park. It was Dzeko's first goal at the 10th attempt in the Premier League following his €32 million move in January.
The Bosnian smashed the ball home in the 75th minute following a misplaced clearance by Phil Jones to hand City a 1-0 victory which keeps them on course for Champions League qualification.
Mancini said: “I am sure it will help his confidence. Edin is a fantastic striker. He had problems with not playing some games and had difficulties not scoring. But tonight he scored an important goal for us.
“He deserved to score as he is a good guy. It was not easy for him and because of this I will enjoy tonight.”
Without injured striker Carlos Tevez, City faded after a bright start with David Silva hitting the post in the third minute. Blackburn, without a win in nine league games, grew in confidence only for Dzeko to score the decisive goal.
Mancini said: “With Carlos injured, Mario (Balotelli) played a fantastic game and with Edin scoring his first league goal it was very important. It was a very big win, especially as it was away from home, because at this stage every game is difficult. In the first half we played some great football and should have scored two goals.
“We scored in the second half when we had some problems because Blackburn played long ball. We found it difficult to play football but we deserved to win. Sometimes a top squad needs to find different ways to win and that’s what we did.”
Blackburn remain only one point outside the relegation zone with four games remaining and manager Steve Kean was left cursing his luck.
He said: “I feel very hard done by. I don’t like to moan about referees but we feel their goal was offside with Balotelli standing in front of Paul Robinson. We felt we had a good shout for a penalty for a bump on Niko (Kalinic) but he probably made it hard for the referee by staying on his feet.
“Full credit to the lads, none of them have anything left. If we continue to approach the games like that we will put points on the table.”
