City's drought over as Johnson strikes

Teenager Michael Johnson must have wondered what the future held for him as Manchester City manager Eriksson spent so much money on glamorous attacking talent in the wake of his arrival in the middle of summer.

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But the 19-year-old central midfielder started Saturday's game at West Ham and provided a glimpse of his precocious talent again with a sumptuous winning goal just before half-time.

With so much expected of them, City had struggled to find any real rhythm for 40 minutes and were beginning to look as though they may be undone by some nerves suffered by young goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel.

But Johnson broke from the shackles of Derby's five-man midfield to score City's first home goal since New Year's Day with the outside of his right foot. Given the length of the wait, it was perhaps fitting that it should be such a good one.

Johnson himself began the move by picking up possession near the right touchline and showing considerable strength to move infield and hold off a couple of challenges to feed Martin Petrov.

The Bulgarian then spotted Johnson continuing his run and played the ball back into his path for the youngster to curl a firsttime shot past Stephen Bywater.

Eriksson has coached across Europe and, with England, across the world but he will not have seen many better goals, either in the planning or the execution.

The City manager said: "It was a beautiful goal and very important. A fantastic goal. I am very pleased to see the young players such as Johnson, Stephen Ireland and Micah Richards doing so well. That is important.

"This is a great start for us and I am more than happy. It was important to win as the expectation is getting bigger and bigger. We have to stand up to that and we will."

City's victory over an obdurate but ambitious Derby side sees them joint leaders of the table and, crucially for Sky Blue supporters, four points clear of neighbours Manchester United ahead of Sunday's meeting.

Whatever happens when Eriksson and Sir Alex Ferguson meet for the first time, City will still end the day ahead.

Ever the pragmatist, Eriksson is refusing to get too excited about his team's promising start. One senses it has surprised even him.

And, in truth, the Swede is right to be cautious as his team were far from fluent at times, despite their efforts to play the right way.

Eriksson has recruited energetic and enterprising players — wide men Elano and Petrov particularly stand out — and has brought some genuine pace to a team that had little when managed by Stuart Pearce last season.

It would appear, however, that there is some way to go before his players begin to function consistently. For most of the game City appeared on the verge of playing some good football, but only sporadically managed it.

Indeed, their best players were, ironically, three who were at the club last season. Johnson and the young Irish midfielder Stephen Ireland were excellent at the attacking end of midfield, both with their passing and intelligent running.

Further back, the veteran Dietmar Hamann was terrific, a lung-bursting run and tackle to hunt down the breaking Jay McEveley in the 90th minute typical of his effort.

As well as Johnson's goal, there was another effort by the midfielder that fizzed over the bar in the first half, while Petrov and Ireland also brought routine saves from Bywater with second-half shots from distance.

Derby, for their part, can feel a little unfortunate. Playing with Andy Todd stationed in front of the back four, it appeared that Billy Davies's team had come to defend, but it wasn't the case.

They were lively and enterprising throughout and may well have scored moments before Johnson broke the deadlock.

It was left-sided midfielder Stephen Pearson who was given the opportunity as Schmeichel dashed from goal in search of a long ball from deep.

Schmeichel was briefly caught in no-man's land and was fortunate that his reflexes allowed him to parry the shot low to his left as he back-pedalled.

Davies said: "That was a turning point. In this division you have to take those chances. I think we just need some arrogance and belief, but that will come in time."

In truth, it was not an entirely comfortable night for Schmeichel. Two clean sheets will earn him his place against United but he is still learning the game. A note of caution to dampen some of the optimism.

MANCHESTER CITY (4-4-1-1): Schmeichel 6; Corluka 7, Richards 7, Dunne 7, Garrido 7; Elano 8 (Mpenza 89min, 6), Johnson 9, Hamann 7, Petrov 7 (Geovanni 73, 7); Ireland 8; Bianchi 6 (Bojinov 77, 6).

Booked: Petrov, Johnson.

DERBY COUNTY (4-1-4-1): Bywater 6; Mears 7, Davis 7, Moore 7, Griffin 7; Todd 8 (McEveley 77, 6); Fagan 7 (Earnshaw 70, 6), Oakley 7, Jones 7 (Teale 45, 7), Pearson 8; Howard 6.

Booked: Howard.

Man of the match: Michael Johnson.

Referee: Lee Mason.