BLACKBURN boss Graeme Souness hailed his resolute defence after Rovers ground out a point on their first ever visit to the City of Manchester Stadium.

Souness felt Nissa Johansson formed a formidable partnership with Markus Babbel at the heart of his back four.

And that provided the foundation for what was a battling performance against fellow strugglers Manchester City.

"This year you can count on one hand how many times we've defended well and today was one of them," said Souness, as he reflected on the 1-1 draw.

"I got a real performance from Nissa Johansson and I think I should give him a special mention because he's not featured much this year.

"And Markus Babbel also did well, too.

"I thought the two of them looked a pair because Nicolas Anelka is one of the best strikers around and when I say that, I mean in the world.

"They kept him quiet other than, obviously, his free-kick.

"Overall, a point is a good result for us coming here in our present predicament.

"It was a scrappy affair between two teams fighting for their lives.

"I can't fault my team for being committed and the amount of work they put into it.

"I'm sure Kevin and I would have liked to see our teams passing it a bit more but it was two sets of nervous players and that's why the game panned out in the way it did."

City appeared to be heading for their first home win since the middle of October when Anelka curled a brilliant free-kick past Brad Friedel in the 50th minute.

But that lead lasted just five minutes as Garry Flitcroft popped up to squeeze a priceless equaliser past England goalkeeper David James.

Neither side really threatened to score a winner after that but Souness was pleased with the overall commitment of his players in the wake of last week's crushing home defeat against Bolton.

"That's the one thing as a manager of any football team, you should be able to guarantee your supporters - commitment," said Souness.

"I certainly got that today and I got it for 45 minutes last week but I didn't get it in the second half against Bolton.

"The supporters should always go away feeling they've had value for money in terms of the effort the players have put into it, whether they've seen their team win, lose or draw.

"And I think our supporters went away feeling they got that today.

"We worked very hard. Unlike last week when we collapsed in the second half, we kept going throughout."

Despite the result, both sides still find themselves firmly entrenched in a fight for Premiership survival.

Souness remains convinced that Rovers will dig themselves out of trouble and he also believes that City will survive, too.

"I think Manchester City will have no problems getting out of it," said Souness.

"They've got good players and good defenders and they've just signed a great goalkeeper in David James.

"They've also got a striker who has scored 17 goals and all those things tell you they are not going to be in trouble."

JOHANSSON