Kinkladze runs rings round Saints

THE Manchester City chairman, Francis Lee, complained last week about the treatment that his Georgian gem Georgi Kinkladze has been getting from the Premiership's less ceremonious defenders. He will no doubt regard Southampton as exempt from that criticism, because when it mattered yesterday they could not get anywhere near him.

Whether anyone else could have done better when Kinkladze beat four men for his staggering second goal is a moot point. Nicky Summerbee passed 30 yards from goal, and with no obvious avenue open to him Kinkladze shimmied his way past a succession of baffled defenders before chipping the ball perfectly over David Beasant.

"It was the closest thing I have seen to Maradona's goal against England," said Alan Ball, who signed Kinkladze on his first day as City's manager. "Not the one with his hand; the one where he did everyone and put it away."

This goal obscured some of the significance of his first, six minutes earlier. He had already warned Southampton of the threat he posed, hitting the crossbar with a shot from outside the box and moving the ball around with awesome precision.

It had not been entirely a one-man show and it was appropriate that Summerbee and Nigel Clough should be involved in the build up, Beasant only being able to knock Clough's hard drive out for Kinkladze to tap in.

It was, as their old boss Ball observed, greatly to Southampton's credit that they recovered from Kinkladze's double strike to make a real game of it in the second half, even if it was the 66th minute before the otherwise anonymous Matthew Le Tissier went close with a stooping header Two minutes later, from their second chance, they scored. Gordon Watson, who added considerable thrust down the right after coming on as a half-time substitute, ran half the length of the field and his well judged pass allowed Paul Tisdale to lift the ball over Eike Immel.

This made for a nervous last quarter for City, although they should have banished all doubt when a lightning raid from Kinkladze - who else? - created an opportunity that both Uwe Rosler and Niall Quinn spurned.

David Hughes came close to punishing them immediately, his acrobatic effort floating over the bar, but as the game stretched into six minutes of injury time there was a more fraught moment for City.

The linesman's flag had long been up, however, when Southampton's other substitute, Matthew Robinson, put the ball in the net. Watson was sent off for arguing the issue and City held on for a vital victory that puts five points between them and their visitors.

Ball, who does not even try to restrain his enthusiasm for Kinkladze's talent, took the win as further vindication of his foreign legion policy.

"People ask why we are bringing this type of player to this country. If that wasn't the answer today, nothing is," he said, satisfied that his point was proved.

City have hopes of adding a second Georgian, Mikhail Kavalashvili, to their squad some time soon. And if Kinkladze recommended him strongly enough, they would probably sign Jimmy Carter.