Manchester United held their nerve for 25 minutes with 10 men to win vs rivals City after an entire season.United started dominating from the start and kept possession throughout the first half, creating chances but not finishing them.
Fletcher missed a beauty when he slipped a Park pass to him and Hart scooped up the ball. When it seemed that united will not get a goal, a scuffle within the box saw Carrick snatch the ball from the defenders and attempt a shot from the left, but Hart stopped the kick, only for him to spill it to Rooney who popped it past him that very instant.
The lead settled, United started to pass, but City kept showing signs of coming back. An Ireland header seemed to be going in but it shaved the right post. Robinho could not handle his compatriot Rafael Da Silva, as seen in the pic.
With 30 min left, Ronaldo went in for a silly tackle to Wright Phillips, to get booked a yellow. 8 minutes later, he deliberately handled the ball from a corner to get a second yellow and was sent off.
But City could not capitalise and in a last ditch effort in the dying minutes, bought Hart all the way from their goal to the opposite side for a corner. City nearly scored, but the ball was cleared off the line, only for a city defender to lose it to a United player. Hart was in the Manchester half, and the goal was unguarded. Hart immediately sprinting towards his unprotected goal with a defender. Rooney shot the ball from halfway to a seemingly open goal as Hart was at a race with the ball above him. He managed to tip the ball away before it could enter the goal.
United did win but not convincingly. Ferguson will be worried to the core that his team has not capture their last season's form. Good luck Fergie!!!
In other matches, a sudden Pienaar strike was enough to topple Tottenham as Moyes' side got full points without main striker Yakubu. Bolton embarassed Sunderland after Cisse put the hosts forward early. But two strikes in a few minutes put Bolton forward. Elmander then finished the game with a brace as Roy Keane's side had to put up with yet another bad defender day as they lost 1-4.
Portsmouth nearly lost a good lead after a 2-0 lead when Crouch and Defoe put Pompey forward. But Cruz and another midfielder equalised before a substitute saved Portsmouth the blushes. Liverpool too lost the chance to go on top by three points after Arsenal defeated Chelsea 2-1 ( read in other article). Liverpool were held to a 0-0 draw with West Ham, and they are just a point above Chelsea.
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