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Blackburn Rovers 0-2 Manchester City
Match Reports, 17:13, August 15, 2009 ,
A debut goal from Emmanuel Adebayor set City on their way but they were made to work hard for their opening day victory.
City brought seven thousand fans and they were in dreamland in the third minute thanks to Adebayor. The former Arsenal man picked up the ball on the halfway line and released Shaun Wright-Phillips, who squared the ball back for Adebayor to curl past Paul Robinson from the edge of the box.
Rovers responded well and had much of the better chances in an entertaining first half but couldn't find their way past a combination of Shay Given and Richard Dunne.
The visitors were better in the second half with Carlos Tevez causing Rovers problems when he was brought on for his debut. The result was in the balance until stoppage time however, when last season's player of the year Stephen Ireland sealed the win with a cool finish to hand Mark Hughes all three points on his return to Ewood Park.