"We were in a counterattack at that time," recalls Sun. "When Annelk dashes along the left by-line, I'm running on the right side to find my chance. When I saw he didn't have a good angle, I cried to him to pass the ball to me. But he didn't; instead, he shot."
"The goalkeeper palmed the ball away and it rolled it under my feet luckily," Sun continued, adding: "Then, I drove it home at a very acute angle."
"I feel very happy about the goal. I couldn't make it if I didn't catch the position."
Recalling the scene at the pitch, the Chinese international apparently could not
conceal his emotions after scoring in their first Premiership match. The goal is the second Sun scored in four days, the last coming last Thursday when Manchester City routed the Welsh side TNS 5-0 in the first leg qualifying round of the UEFA Cup.
At the beginning of this season, Man City Manager Kevin Keegan changed the formation of his side to 4-4-2 -- the same as the Chinese national team, and which Sun Jihai is more familiar with.
"Playing the right back in 3-5-2 (which Man City used last season) is different from the 4-4-2. The latter fits me more," Sun said prior to the match.
Although Sun attributed his regular first team position at the start of the season to compound factors -- both formation change and hard training -- he also said he was by far luckier than during last season. Man City lost 3-0 to Leeds United in the first round where Sun shot the post with his left foot.
(China Daily August 19, 2003)
