£27m Dzeko has net gains for Manchester City at last - Belfast Telegraph

Blackburn 0 Manchester City 1: Edin Dzeko expressed his relief after breaking his Barclays Premier League goal duck to earn Manchester City a hard-fought victory against Blackburn.

The Bosnian fired home the only goal of the game in the 75th minute, just three minutes after emerging from the substitutes' bench.

And he said afterwards: "I'm very happy that this goal helped my team to win the game.

"Sometimes it's difficult, I'm not the first who didn't make the best start but I'm happy because I scored today and helped the team."

Dzeko's drought has been focused on parallel with that of Chelsea's 50million man Fernando Torres, who opened his Blues account against West Ham on Saturday.

And Dzeko said: "It's football, Torres scored a lot of goals at Liverpool and changed club, I'm happy for him too because I know what the pressure is.

"Now we have to look at the future — today was very good, it is a new beginning for me and for City."

Manager Roberto Mancini added: "I'm very happy for Edin because he deserves to score, he is a good player and a good man.

"In the first half we played a fantastic game, we should have scored two goals minimum.

"In the second half the game changed, and Blackburn Rovers played very strong and hard."

Dzeko grabbed the winner at the 10th attempt in the Barclays Premier League.

In the process the 27million buy from Wolfsburg in January propelled Mancini's side towards a top four finish and a place in the Champions League.

Not only that Dzeko made sure Blackburn continue to worry about relegation after their 10th league match without a victory.

After beating Manchester United and securing a place in the FA Cup final it was no surprise City started brightly.

However, they failed to make their possession pay in the first half especially and Blackburn began to grow in confidence.

But in all came right for Mancini in the end and they are now four points clear of fifth-placed Tottenham.

Blackburn's best chance came in the 50th minute following a swift counter attack.

Brett Emerton picked out Jason Roberts and his header appeared to be going wide only for Martin Olsson to get on the end of it and send a shot into the side netting.

But it was City who almost edged in front in the 68th minute when Silva carved out an opening only to find the wrong side of the post with his curling effort.

Adam Johnson was replaced by Dzeko in the 72nd minute and the he responded three minutes later with the decisive goal.

Silva supplied the cross and Phil Jones only succeeded in sending his clearance straight to Dzeko, who smashed it home.

Blackburn, however, should have drawn level in the 87th minute but Phil Jones headed over from close range.

These are worrying times for the home side who remain one point outside the bottom three with four matches to go.