BOLTON BITE THE DUST

 

Last time around, United faced Bolton relatively early on in their Premiership campaign and to start with came away with a 2-2 draw at the Reebok Stadium before following that up with a 1-0 win at Old Trafford which put us on course for the title with Bolton slotting into lower mid-table. That last time we did the double over Wanderers was back in the 09/10 season and Gary Megson started that season as Bolton manager but we still came up with a 2-1 win at Old Trafford. Then their current gaffer Owen Coyle took over and we beat them 4-0 at the Reebok Stadium with Darron Gibson(who's just left United for Everton) hitting the net for the Reds.

Well the Reds had already beaten Bolton 5-0 at the Reebok Stadium and now after winning the tie of the round in the FA Cup it was back to the bread and butter for the Premiership champions. In the meantime Wanders had found themselves at the other end of the table to us which meant that both sides needed a result, after a bad league run United certainly needed to get a win in this Premiership match at Old Trafford. Rafael was at right back for us, Rio and Evans in central defence, Scholes got his first start since coming out of retirement alongside Carrick in centre midfield. Time to see if we could get our title defence back up and running.

United steamed into the visitors from the off but Wanderers proved to be stubborn gits and while they were unable to do much attacking themselves, the Reds just weren't able to hit the net though it seemed to be just a matter of time. United then got a pen but still their goalie Adam Bogdam was able to maintain his clean sheet. Finally Bolton got their act together in terms of attacking opportunities but what they sent our way was nothing we couldn't handle. Then in injury time a Rooney cross found Scholesy who slotted the ball from point blank range for his first goal since his comeback. With the dam broken, what were Bolton going to be able to do?

Bolton had the first opportunity of the second half but ultimately blew it and United were soon on the hunt for a second goal. The Bolton defence's stubbornness resumed for a while though and their attackers weren't quite done either. However in the 74th minute United broke through once again when Wellbeck beat the Bolton defence to Rooney's throughball and slotted it in. Then in the 83rd minute sub Giggsy set up Carrick who curled in a scorcher to pretty much finish the game off. After a rough run of Premiership form United finally pulled off a win with a solid performance including signs of an old master beginning to scrape the rust off.

Elsewhere Man City beat Wigan 1-0 at the DW Stadium. The Blues hit the net in the first half and survived a solid display from their hosts in the second half to get back to winning ways after bad results in other competitions. Chelsea beat Sunderland 1-0 at Stamford Bridge with the home side grabbing an early goal and pretty much outclassing their visitors throughout the match to keep themselves froom falling too far behind in the title race. That means that United remain 2nd in the Premiership and on course for next season's Champions League group stages. We lie three points behind leaders Man City and eight points ahead of Chelsea and a detour through the playoffs.

North of the border, Aberdeen faced Kilmarnock at Pittodrie in the SPL. The Dons weren't able to field their strongest lineup and this game proved to not be the strongest advert for the SPL, and the first half proved to be goalless. Young defender Clark Robertson got the only shot on target for the Dons which pretty much says it all about this match. The Reds had the edge in terms of what opportunities there were but both sides can surely do better. Since then, another young Dons player, midfielder Jack Grimmer has been snapped up by Fulham however Russell Anderson has returned to Pittodrie after a few years south of the border.

Elsewhere Dunfirmline faced Hibs at East End Park. The Pars opened the scoring through Andy Kirk only for Hibs to level through Leigh Giffiths though the home side seemingly still had the edge when the teams came in at half time. The match remained level for the bulk of the second half before Hibs completed the turnaround thanks to Garry O'Connor. The Pars equalised through Liam Buchanen but Griffiths got his second goal soon afterwards to win the game for Hibs. That means that Aberdeen remain 9th in the SPL, two points behind Kilmarnock at the top half of the table with Killie having a game in hand and eleven points ahead of Dunfirmline and relegation with the Pars having two games in hand.

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