Manchester City and Blackburn Rovers drew 1-1 in a poor match at The City of Manchester Stadium.

In an afternoon where David Seaman said his goodbyes to the City fans and David James said hello, the home side failed to hold their lead and Rovers deserved their draw.

Sun Jihai's early long throw caused chaos in the Blackburn defence but the ball failed to reach Nicolas Anelka and the chance was lost.

Trevor Sinclair almost gave City the lead on 15 minutes, when he received the ball from Antoine Sibierski, but he opted to take the ball on his left and curled his shot wide.

The lively Sibierski was involved again on the half hour when his shot deflected off Andrew Cole and hit the right-hand post.

A minute later Richard Dunne rose the highest following a corner and his goal-bound header had to be fisted out by Rovers keeper Brad Friedel.

Following the restart, Rovers were penalised when Sibierski was bundled over on the edge of the area.

The enigmatic Frenchman Anelka stepped up and curled the ball past Friedel's outstretched left hand to give City the lead.

The home side had a penalty claim turned down by referee Mike Dean when an off-balance Anelka seemed to be nudged by Gary Flitcroft.

Rovers rallied and found their equaliser on 55, when Cole's flick-on fell kindly for Flitcroft, who beat debutante keeper James with ease.

The away side were lifted by the goal and when Sun Jihai's inadvertent clearance found Jonathon Douglas, his shot curled just wide of the target.

Brett Emerton was next to try his luck with a rasping shot from outside the area which fizzed wide of James' left-hand post.

James earned a cheer from the home fans on the hour when he came out to smother at Andrew Cole's feet, his first real save of the match.

Neither side got hold of the ball in the second half and the draw was a fair result in what was largely a poor game.

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