Manchester, Jan. 31: Emmanuel Adebayor signalled his return to the Manchester City starting line-up with the opening goal as City defeated crisis club Portsmouth 2-0 at Eastlands.
Adebayor had not started for his club since returning home early from the African Cup of Nations earlier this month following the terrifying gun assault on the Togo team bus in Cabinda that left three backroom staff dead.However, he told City manager Roberto Mancini on Saturday that he felt mentally strong enough to start the match and rewarded his manager’s faith with a 40th minute opener.Vincent Kompany added a further first half goal in injury time which ensured City could bounce back following their shattering League Cup semifinal loss to Manchester United last Wednesday.These two sides may play in the same division but they are in different leagues financially.City are the richest club in the world whereas Portsmouth face the ignominy of a winding-up order to be served on the club on February 10 if they do not somehow resolve their dire financial situation before then.Chief executive Peter Storrie also said last week that his role is becoming increasingly untenable because of the boardroom problems, summed up by news that Portsmouth were trying to sell Younes Kaboul and Asmir Begovic without his knowledge.Matters are little better on the pitch either and they had won one of their last six before this encounter to leave them rooted to the bottom of the Premier League.However, they surprised everybody at the City of Manchester Stadium by starting as the brighter side.After three minutes, Danny Webber delivered a cross which Shay Given juggled to the feet of John Utaka close out but he wasted the glorious chance by firing over.