By IAN WHITTELL
ROBERTO MANCINI’S team once again showed plenty of heart.
But the Manchester City boss admits his ticker might not take the strain if they keep leaving it so late.
Gareth Barry sank rock-bottom Reading with a controversial headed winner in the 93rd minute.
The crucial win brought Mancini’s defending champions to within three points of leaders Manchester United, who face Swansea today.
Barry’s last-gasp goal could be vital in the grand scheme of the Premier League race.
And it was the FOURTH time this season City have won a league game with a winner in the 87th minute or later. All that, of course, after Sergio Aguero’s injury-time goal won them the title in last season’s final game.
Mancini said: “I’m very happy but we’ve had a lot of games like today.
“My heart is not strong enough to take it! That win could probably be the difference come the end of the season. I hope so.
“Our attitude is good. We kept our concentration until the very end. We wanted to win this game and we kept going until he very last second.
“This game is important but when you play well, like we did in the first half, if you have a chance to score, you must score. This can change a difficult game.”
City have now beaten Reading, Spurs, West Brom and Fulham this season with goals nabbed in the 87th minute… or even later.
But Mancini believes it shows that his team has all the hallmarks of true champions.
He added: “We have improved a lot and we want to try until the very end. Our attitude is strong.
“Sometimes you can win these games, sometimes you cannot.
“I think we deserved to win this but when you are in the last two or three minutes of extra time, it can be difficult. If you don’t score in the first half, when we had a lot of chances to score, then you make it difficult.
“They played very well and defended for 90 minutes with men behind the ball but in the end we only needed one chance and I’m happy for the victory because without it, it was a problem.”
And Mancini said he is expecting more of the same for the rest of the season after his team seemed to fail to heed his warning.
He added: “I told the guys before the game that Reading might have conceded a lot of goals the last few games but they are playing well. I told them it would be a difficult game and I think they will find more games like this between now and the end of the season.”
Reading boss Brian McDermott was left to bemoan his luck once more after Barry climbed over defender Nicky Shorey to head the winner.
Mancini and City claimed there was nothing wrong with Barry’s effort — although Reading strongly disagreed with ref Mike Dean’s decision to let the goal stand.
The Royals also thought they should have had a 75th-minute penalty when Matija Nastastic might have handled and Jay Tabb seemed to be fouled by debutant Karim Rekik.
And McDermott, the bookies’ favourite to become the next Premier League manager sacked, said: “It was an absolute joke. We’ve had that a few times this season.
“I said to the referee at the end, he’ll be gutted he missed that.
“The referee said he hung in the air but you can hang in the air all day if you’re hanging on somebody’s back!
“And he knocked Tabb out of the way, we should have had a penalty.
“We have had a few of those recently but we I have to just look at the positives.”
