Manchester City- 1 Tottenham - 2:Stuart Pearce said Manchester City supporters had every right to turn against his side during their dismal first-half performance in yesterday's defeat.

One furious fan sought to scale the barrier behind the City dug-out and confront Pearce after Tottenham Hotspur's second goal before he was led away down the touchline by police. "I knew somebody was shouting. I thought it was my wife," said the City manager.

Calum Davenport and Tom Huddlestone put the visitors into an early lead over an abject City who restored some self-esteem by mounting a second-half comeback through Joey Barton.

"People pay good money to come here and I was frustrated as well," said Pearce. "If I was in his position I would have come down and vented my frustration at the manager. The performance of the team dictated people's reaction and rightly so. The team were very, very poor for 45 minutes but for the next 45 minutes I didn't hear anyone venting their frustration."

City's small vestige of optimism this season rested on their previously unbeaten home record after eight Premiership games, during which they had kept seven clean sheets. Such statistics were swiftly made a thing of the past as City slid from ordinary to dire to inept, with a number of players seeming not to be trying, notably Georgios Samaras. Not surprisingly he did not last beyond half-time.

Strong words at the interval by Pearce, plus a rejig in the formation, saw City recoup a little goodwill and for long periods Tottenham were under sustained pressure, notably after Barton had narrowed the deficit. Paul Dickov found space on the left and picked out a late run by Barton, something the Tottenham defence singularly failed to notice. But for City the damage was done in that first half and all the second-half pressure they mounted was in a lost cause. And so Spurs won their first away Premiership match of the season.

Pearce had hardly filled the City fans with Christmas cheer when he suggested last week that without fresh money being injected into the club he would have only around £5milliom to spend in the January window. One step forward, two steps back has been the way of what passes for progress at the club for too long and, if City's home form falls apart, as it most obviously did yesterday at the beginning, then real troubles are looming.

The large number of empty seats at the kick-off bore witness to the pessimism that needs little to turn it into rampant despair as far as City fans are concerned.

An early half-chance for Dimitar Berbatov provided a warning of what was to come and with City's initial forays getting nowhere fast, Tottenham counter-attacked with precision and elan.

City fell behind in the 16th minute after the hapless Samaras had fouled Steed Malbranque. Huddlestone's looping free-kick from the left found Spurs defender Davenport who rose highest to glance the ball beyond Nicky Weaver. Worse was to follow with a superbly struck second goal from Huddlestone who met Hossam Ghaly's gentle crossfield pass with a sumptuous half-volley that gave Weaver virtually no chance to react.

Perhaps, given City's previous mixed form and Tottenham excellent recent displays, the writing was on the wall before the kick-off, with the Blues having won only two of their previous 18 Premiership games against Spurs. Pearce, the players and City fans may choose to dwell only on the second half; that way they can maintain some sanity.

Guardian Service