 Joey Barton celebrates scoring with Trevor Sinclair |
Joey Barton celebrated signing a new deal at Manchester City by scoring a first-half hat-trick against Port Vale. Fresh from committing his future to the club, Barton ran the show and opened his account by tapping home a Georgios Samaras knockdown after eight minutes.
He made it two when he latched on to Paul Dickov's quickly-taken free-kick and a third followed after good work by striking partners Samaras and Dickov.
Leon Constantine and Akpo Sodje wasted Vale's best chances in the first-half.
Barton's performance left manager Stuart Pearce beaming.
"To score a hat-trick at any level at any time is a great achievement," Pearce said.
"You have to give Joey a lot of credit, he has bags of energy and got into the box on regular occasions.
"As I have said many times before, I see Joey as a major asset for this club. That is why we offered him a new contract when he still had 18 months of his existing one to run."
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Match of the Day - Post-match interviews 
