NOT EVEN STUART PEARCE’S ONE-MAN pitch invasions could enliven this game, the kind of encounter that spawned the joke about the goalless draw in which both sides were fortunate to get nil. Neither goalkeeper had a shot to save, but when the Manchester City manager had the opportunity afterwards to fend off questions concerning Roy Keane, Pearce enthused about his former team-mate.

While the world and his wife have been debating what the departed Manchester United captain might do next, Pearce’s opinions are pertinent. He was Keane’s captain in the Irishman’s formative years at Nottingham Forest and is now in charge of a buoyant Barclays Premiership club which is in need of greater midfield experience. Pearce hypothesised: “I think it would be an interesting move for a number of reasons.”

City’s inexperienced midfield, lacking three starters because of fitness or suspension, needed charging on Saturday with the kind of impetus that even an ageing Keane could bring. They sat back in the first half, wary of being overrun as Blackburn Rovers passed the ball around sharply, and by the time Stephen Ireland started playmaking in the second half, Blackburn were intent on stifling the life out of the game and taking a point. That was the stage at which Pearce started running on to the pitch to place the ball down for quicker restarts. “We get told not to time-waste,” the hyperactive manager said. “I shouldn’t have gone on to the pitch, but I wanted to get home to my wife.”

Not even four minutes of added time could bring City a fourth successive home victory before the engaging Pearce started weighing up whether to make a move for Keane. “I’m sure he’ll end up going to a very good club and I think he’ll have plenty of offers,” he said. “I only had three years with Roy at Nottingham Forest, when he was a baby, really, but I’ve followed his career and respected all he’s achieved. He had an edge to him, a good edge, and he’s gone on to mature as a man and as a player. I still think he’s got a lot to offer.”

Some, especially those such as Pearce still cutting their managerial teeth, would feel threatened by signing Keane, a manager in the making himself. “If their position at their individual football clubs were fragile, they might be,” Pearce concurred. “I’d be happy to have a team full of future managers. It shows they have an aptitude for the game.”

No one could accuse Pearce of lacking that, and City are all the better for it.