Paul Scholes of course opened the scoring in that game, thereby rubbing the salt into the wound that Henry had opened up the week before - never again shall I be cynical about comebacks, turns out football is all fairytales!
The focus of this post however is back to City, and in particular what that win meant. What I am starting to learn is that, to be honest, being top of the table really, actually... is not all that fun.
Southampton have led the Championship for months now, and currently sit top only on goal difference following a poor run of form that has diminished what was at one stage a healthy lead. This weekend they play on the Monday night, just as City did - giving all of their closest rivals a chance to move ahead. The upshot of this is that Monday night's game against Leicester City becomes a must win game, only to keep pace or maintain what we had.
For Saints fans, and to be fair for the majority of my life, City fans, actually winning a football match is that most glorious and wonderful of achievements; largely because it does not happen as a matter of routine. Premiership strugglers get the euphoria after a giant killing that is so great simply because it is so unexpected and rare. Relegation battlers face must win games, particularly at the end of the season, and God knows Saints have had plenty of them. The feeling after winning those games is, again, a euphoria - in this sense borne of relief and desperation; by definition if your team is in a relegation must-win battle then wins have not been frequent visitors to your club.
Being top of the table however means, actually, winning is something you kind of get used to. You expect it, many clubs basically demand it and fall into 'crisis' if they go too long without it. This is all new to me.
Winning a game to keep yourself top of the table comes more with a relief than a satisfaction. I have been trying to think why I am finding this to be the case, and I have boiled it down to the years of underachievement and lowly status. I fully expect Saints to throw away all their good work, and consider West Ham to be outright favourites for the Championship title. Because of this, it almost feels like every game my team does win is just delaying the inevitable, making it all the more painful when it does happen and we slip into the playoffs having been in the automatic slots since the first day.
There is so much pressure to win the game that nothing else matters, and nothing else is acceptable. If you go into a game, like Southampton and the old, rubbish City used to in the Premier League thinking a draw would be a good result, you are chuffed to bits if a rare win does come around.
For both these table toppers at the moment though, nothing less than three points will do, and for me that just takes a little something of the joy away from the win. Don't get me wrong - it has been an incredible 16 months or so with a team that is doing well, winning games and playing good football too...it's just that lately whilst we have to wear the mantle of league leaders and favourites, I have been finding the happiness harder and harder to come by.
It may seem (and does feel) somewhat weird, bizarre, perverse even to be essentially moaning about the fact that being top of the league and winning a lot of games is not as fun as nabbing the odd win here and there. Of course I realise that this is one hell of a time to be a Saint or a Citizen, and if either club can maintain their current position then for both it will go down as one of their greatest ever seasons. You just can't shake off the feeling that Fate is hanging around, waiting in the wings, to cruelly take it all away having given us the audacity of hope.
I would love to know if fans of United, Chelsea and Arsenal, in the seasons when they have won the league have felt like this - but I'd reckon it would be different given the long term success they have enjoyed and the belief that comes with it. It always seemed to me that those fans were the truly lucky ones, getting to experience the ultimate highs that football could offer, on pretty much a yearly basis. Maybe that is not the case though, maybe the truth is that being top of the league comes with more stress and pressure than you would ever have thought.
Am I just being pessimistic, am I tainted by years of disappointment, is it more to do with some deep lying psychological issue and actually these are Glory Days? I think the only true answer will reveal itself in May, and for those wearing sky blue in Manchester or red and white in Hampshire, maybe the years of suffering are coming to an end. Enjoy it? Believe me, I'm trying.
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