Pearce Predicts a Gloss Finish
Chris Bailey
STUART PEARCE is determined that last night's 1-0 win over Aston Villa is not
the end of a losing run but the start of a winning one.
City finally cracked an unenviable sequence of six successive Premiership defeats
with a single goal victory over the struggling Midlanders and the manager felt
it was fully deserved.
But he admitted that he had felt the pressure of his side's slide out of European
contention.
"Football is a great game when you are winning but it's awful when you are
losing, I have found that out over the last few weeks," he declared - the
relief written all over his face.
"I have told the lads that this victory is not the end of the story but the
beginning of a four match unbeaten run.
"It is great to see some smiles in the dressing room again. Now hopefully
we will grow in confidence and have a big finish to the season. Confidence is a
precious commodity in football and you could see it returning to our players in
the second half.
"We probably didn't play as well as we have done in other matches away from
home this season but we deserved the three points."
City's travelling fans hailed the first away win since the first week in December
at Charlton with a show of affection for their manager.
Pressure
The Blues boss admitted that the lack of points had weighed on his mind.
"Make no mistake, the run we have been on, the pressure has been on everyone
from me right the way down to the youngest player at this club," he went on. "I
am the first to say, judge us by results and we have been on a poor, poor run.
"But you have to keep a balanced view of what has happened and credit to the
players they scrapped away hard and by the end of the match deserved the victory.
It is just a pity it took us seven games.
"It took us 45 minutes last night and a clean sheet to build a bit of confidence
and then we realised that the game was there for us to win."
The second half improvement coincided with the withdrawal of expensive signing
Greek international Georgios Samaras and Pearce confirmed afterwards that the
striker was not injured.
"It was a tactical decision and it is my job to make those," he said. "I
felt Antoine (Sibierski) might cause them one or two more problems.
"There are three games left and now I want nine points. We have to build on
what we did last night in the second half when some of our passing and movement
was as good as it has been all season - including when we scored five at Charlton
in our previous away win!"
