FOR once this season, Wanderers were totally outclassed by a slick Manchester City side, who, in truth could have scored five or six.

Saved twice by the woodwork and at least twice more by smart saves from Jussi Jaaskeleinen, the 1-0 scoreline flattered Whites.

City tore the defence apart time and time again, and when Carlos Tevez scored after just four minutes, I thought it was going to be more like an Ashes score.

But maybe Wanderers can take heart from the fact they only conceded once.

In a season where our defence has been anything but watertight, to ship only one goal against the multi-millionaires of East Manchester must in itself deserve some credit.

I’d rather lose to City than to a lesser team that we really should be beating – and that brings us neatly to our next opponents, Blackburn Rovers.

This is my favourite of the local derbies. In terms of finishing positions over the last nine seasons, I think we have shared the spoils.

It has been 10 years since Rovers and Wanderers were both promoted to the Premier League, along with Fulham, and it must be some sort of record that all three clubs have maintained their top flight status for a decade.

We struggled in the first two or three seasons of the 2000s, but after that came those glorious few years when, under Rovers’ current boss Big Sam, Wanderers consistently enjoyed the bragging rights over our neighbours from the other end of the A666.

Then came the “dark ages” with Gary Megson, but now, managed by Owen Coyle, it looks like Wanderers may once again get the better of Blackburn.

That said, and this seems an amazing stat, in the last 10 years, including the promotion season, Wanderers have failed to register a home league win against Rovers.

Home and away our record is okay – P20 W3 D11 L6 – but at the Reebok, it is woeful – played 10, won 0, drawn 6, lost 4.

Hopefully, this is a stat we can finally put to bed on Saturday.