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Goalkeeper Hart relieved as City end winless away run
London: Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart is pleased that they have ended a six-match winless away run in the English Premier League (EPL) with a 2-1 win over Watford at the Vicarage Road here.
City’s last win away came against Crystal Palace on September 12, since then, their away performance has witnessed lossess against Tottenham Hotspur, Stoke City and Arsenal. They were only thriving at home to be in title contention.
On Saturday night too they conceded early with an Aleksandar Kolarov (55th minute), but City snatched victory with two late goals from Yaya Toure (82nd) and Sergio Aguero (84th) to bring an end to a poor away record.
With this win, City remain one point short of second placed Leicester City and three behind leaders Arsenal.
“We’ve got to build on this now — this result can only be good for us because it ends a run of six Premier League games in a row without a win which isn’t title-winning form, but we’ve somehow managed to stay in the hunt,” Hart told his club’s website mcfc.com.
“We’ve still got all the clubs who are around us to come to the Etihad (Stadium) and I think we’re in a good place. We’ve got a big (Capital One) Cup game (semi-final against Everton) to come now this week and even though we’re not where we want to be, we’re close and this was a big result for us.”
The England international picked out defender Bacary Sagna for special praise.
“I think great credit needs to go to Bacary Sagna tonight. He’s played a lot of games because of Pablo Zabaleta being injured so for him to be flying down the wing like a steam train so late in the game and then put in a cross like that for Sergio to score from is fantastic. He has done so much for the team this season,” said Hart said about the France international.
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Sunil Gavaskar gives his opinion of GT allrounder Rahul Tewatia
The left-handed batsman from Haryana is garnering praise from all quarters for the way he’s finishing games regularly in the most exciting IPL season.
Gavaskar reckons Tewatia’s whirlwind knock in Sharjah (in IPL 2020) where he smashed West Indies pacer Sheldon Cottrell for five sixes in an over, gave him the confidence that he belongs to the big stage.
Speaking on Cricket Live on Star Sports, Gavaskar said, “That assault on Sheldon Cottrell in Sharjah gave him the belief to do the impossible and the confidence that he belongs here. We saw the impossible (he did with the bat) the other day as well. There’s no twitching or touching the pads (which shows a batter’s nervousness) when he bats in the death overs. He just waits for the ball to be delivered and plays his shots. He’s got all the shots in the book, but most importantly his temperament to stay cool in a crisis is brilliant.”
Gavaskar has also nicknamed the 28-year-old cricketer the ‘ice-man’ and lauded Tewatia’s ability to remain unruffled during the tense moments.