Royle scorns fans who have given up

Bradford 2 Manchester City 2

Manchester City manager Joe Royle senses that some Maine Road fans have resigned themselves to relegation as the club prepare for a bitter survival battle.

Even as he sets a demanding schedule for safety - four wins from eight remaining matches by a team that has won six all season - Royle knows supporters are wavering in the wake of the disappointing 2-2 draw with doomed bottom club Bradford. Royle admitted: 'People have written us off and will continue to. Maybe one or two of our fans have lost heart, but we haven't. There are eight games left and 24 points at stake. If we can get half of them, we'll be OK. We canget half of them.' It was wholly predictable that lifelong fan Ashley Ward, without a Premiership goal all season should break his duck against Royle's strugglers, but the damage could have been much worse than his 57th-minute goal that put Bradford 2-1 ahead after Robbie Blake had wiped out Gerard Wiekens' opener. Referee Steve Dunn took the easy option when Ward successfully challenged for the ball as Nicky Weaver threw it up to kick. The goalkeeper then switched to WWF rules, putting a headlock on the Bradford striker as he tried to nip past. Weaver's unorthodox action saved the day for City. Had he allowed Ward through unmolested, Dunn could have given the goal and waved aside protests. But confronted with a choice of sending off the goalkeeper and giving an 88th-minute penalty, or simply booking Ward for ungentlemanly conduct, he opted for the latter.

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