Sobering experience for City as Wolves pounce

Roberto Mancini endured another sobering experience in charge of Manchester City after David Edwards condemned the super-spenders to their second successive defeat.

Edwards piled more pressure on Mancini with the second-half winner to gift Wolves only their second victory of the season.

And days after Mancini warned his players against the perils of alcohol he must have felt like drowning his own sorrows after City were left to look a bunch of champagne charlies at Molineux.

Emmanuel Adebayor?s penalty gave the visitors the lead but Nenad Milijas rewarded Wolves’s pressure with a fiercely struck equaliser.

City fell behind early in the second period when Edwards beat Joe Hart from close range, following suspect defending from Mancini’s expensively assembled back four.

The visitors mounted a late bombardment in search of an equaliser but Mick McCarthy was celebrating his first win in six attempts against his opponents.

This result will do little to endear Mancini to his employers.

A sobering 3-0 home defeat against Arsenal last weekend, their heaviest on their own turf since January 2007, provided him with another harsh reminder that he has much work to do to guide City to a top four place.

The urbane Italian was adamant City are still one of the best teams in the Premier League after their treatment at the hands of Arsene Wenger but any club with title aspirations are judged on how they respond to adversity.

And Mancini went with an uncharacteristically ambitious piece of team selection here with Mario Balotelli making his first Premier League start alongside Adebayor, with David Silva on the left.

City were almost embarrassingly dominant in the opening period, with Balotelli sending two efforts wide.

And their pressure was rewarded in the 23rd minute after Richard Stearman upended Silva in the box. Silva cleverly kept the ball in play by the touchline and Stearman was simply caught out after committing himself, leaving referee Mike Dean with no alternative.

Adebayor made no mistake from the spot, with his first Premier League goal of the season.

But Wolves responded and were deservedly level on the half hour, when Stephen Hunt?s cross was deflected to bamboozle Kolo Toure and Milijas ruthlessly dispatched a half-volley into the bottom corner from 12 yards.

City’s defending was equally poor when Wolves took the lead for the first time. City failed to clear Kevin Foley’s cross and though Doyle’s volley was blocked by Kolo Toure, Edwards had time to pick his spot and slide the ball past Hart.

Mancini cannot have said it wasn’t coming, with his players regularly suffering from lapses of concentration and complacency.

He introduced Adam Johnson for the ineffectual Barry midway through the second half in an attempt to pile some pressure on the home side.

But Wolves dealt with everything their opponents threw at them to cling on to their first win since the opening day against Stoke.

It doesn’t get any easier for McCarthy just yet, though. Up next for Wolves is a trip to Manchester United before they entertain Arsenal.