Football: BARTMAN BEGINS TO PLEASE PEARCE; MAN UNITED .........................1 MAN CITY ..............................1.

Byline: John MATHESON reports

CITY boss Stuart Pearce heaped praise on Joey Barton after the fiery midfielder made up for his off-field sins by bagging a shock derby leveller at Old Trafford.

The 23-year-old was fined by the club for attacking an Everton fan on their pre-season tour of Thailand.

That came after he burned a teammate with a cigar on a Christmas night out and Barton's future looked bleak.

But he did his damage on the pitch yesterday with a late strike to cancel out Ruud van Nistelrooy's opener and Pearce is delighted with the way he has bounced back from the controversy.

The City gaffer said: "I've seen a level of maturity in Joey that wasn't there a month ago.

"What happened in Thailand was a big wake-up call because Joey wanted to take on everybody and fight the world. You can never win like that.

"But he has asked for help, which is not easy, and I'm proud of him. He has worked extremely hard and I had a chat with him on Tuesday just to give him a pat on the back."

United boss Sir Alex Ferguson rested skipper Roy Keane after his midweek tussle with French ace Patrick Vieira on international duty.

Alan Smith took the Irishman's place in central midfield but United badly missed Keane's passion.

Van Nistelrooy should have opened the scoring on the half-hour but could only fire over from John O'Shea's cross as David James rushed out. The Dutch hitman was much deadlier on the stroke of half-time as he fired home the opener.

Paul Scholes smacked in a free-kick and van Nistelrooy flicked his effort goalward from what looked like an offside position.

Replays showed the flag correctly stayed down and when James could only parry, the striker hit home the rebound.

City pushed hard for a leveller and were rewarded when Barton pounced 15 minutes from time.

Edwin Van der Sar made a great save from Andy Cole but Barton touched the ball home from close range when Darius Vassell fired in the rebound.

Ferguson's troops tried to get back in front and sub Ryan Giggs could have won it when he came within inches of converting Wayne Rooney's cross.

But United needed a great late save from Van der Sar to stop Cole from grabbing a winner against his old club.

Gutted Old Trafford chief Ferguson said: "It was a ridiculous scoreline. They pulled everyone to the edge of their box, just as they did last season

CAPTION(S):

Here we Joe: Barton celebrates his City equaliser