Late fightback rescues City

Kevin Keegan's never-say-die City reminded the Premiership they have fight as well as flair by snatching two goals in the last 11 minutes to rescue a point that had looked well beyond them.

Australian hard man Danny Tiatto was sent off in the 68th minute for a two-footed lunge at David Thompson six minutes after going on as a substitute, leaving City with 10 men against a Blackburn team already two goals up. On the day Kevin Keegan suspended £3million defender Richard Dunne for 'a serious breach of club discipline' that puts a question mark against his future, the angry City manager feared that Tiatto's red card had sealed his team's fate.

Nicolas Anelka's fourth goal of the campaign and a last-gasp effort from Shaun Goater saved the day, but Keegan was grim-faced at the mention of Tiatto or Dunne.

He said: 'I asked Tiatto to help pull the game out of the fire, but what he did was stupid and I'm fining him the maximum. If that tackle had been made on one of my players I'd be livid. I don't even want to talk about him. He wasn't here today as far as I'm concerned.

'As for Dunne, there is a board meeting later this week. It's not the first time that he's broken club rules, but it might be the last.'

Blackburn manager Graeme Souness was no happier. He said: 'It wasn't anything they did; we were just dopey. That last 10 minutes made me wonder if my players understand the game. We switched off. We've lost two points through a lack of concentration.'

If Keegan has made a wager that he can field the smallest team in the Premiership, he can probably collect after giving 5ft 4in striker Chris Shuker his first start. Shuker is an inch shorter than Shaun Wright-Phillips while midfield creators Ali Benarbia and Eyal Berkovic are 5ft 7in.