UNITED BLOW OUT BAGGIES

 

(Image taken from Manutd.com)

When we faced West Brom earlier in the season, a 4-0 win at Old Trafford turned out to be one of the results we needed to get back into contention. Since then we've risen to the top of the Premiership, and the Baggies have sunk to the bottom and though this season's relegation battle is proving to be a tight contest, us visiting the Hawthorns must have made Tony Mowbray groan. For us it was 4-4-2 with van de Saar in goal, Neville right back, Rio(good to see him back) and Vidic in central defence, Ronaldo right mid, Giggsy and Carrick centre mid and Park left mid with Berbatov and Tevez up front. On this sort of form it looked to be one of our easier games.

Well credit to West Brom they had some good attacking play early on but it wasn't long before it was Albion's defence that was being tested and the hope was that it wouldn't be too long before United opened the scoring. That was taken care of in the 23rd minute when Barbatov played a 1-2 with Carrick before slotting the ball into the net. West Brom fans would claim that the game then turned on their captain Paul Robinson getting sent off, admittedly it didn't look like the best refereeing decision of all time. The Baggies players and fans needed time to cool down after that decision and even then Tevez was able to take advantage of a 44th minute goalie blunder to put us two up.

Credit to the home side they tried to mount a comeback early in the second half but their hopes were dashed firstly when a 60th minute Giggsy corner found the head of Vidic(3-0 United) and then the Welsh veteran set up Ronaldo in the 65th minute. The Portuguese star then finished the match off in the 73rd minute when he was set up by Berbatov. The West Brom players thought the United men were offside but by this point they must have worked out that this wasn't going to be their game. United gave some reserves a run out as we cruised to the finish line. It was our second 5-0 win of the season and the first away from home, nothing for a United fan to complain about.

Elsewhere, Xhelsea beat Middlesborough 2-0 at Stamford Bridge despite the first half ending goalless, the second half proving to be a much smoother affair for the Blues in what was overall a well deserved home win. Liverpool were only able to draw 1-1 with Wigan at the JJB Stadium. The Scousers were ahead at half time and dominated the match overall but still found themselves dropping two points after a late Wigan equaliser. The leaves United remaining top of the Premiership, two points ahead of Chelsea who have moved up to second place. Credit to Chelsea for their attempt at a comeback but we still have a game in hand and the title is surely ours to lose.

North of the border, the CIS Insurance Cup semi finals were taking place. Rangers had a relatively straightforward 3-0 win over Falkirk at Hampden Park with the Gers two up by half time, Walter Smith's crew back to full power after their messy SPL game at Pittodrie. Also at Hampden Park, Celtic wound up drawing 0-0 with Dundee United, forcing a tight but classy game into extra time. The extra half hour wasn't able to separate the teams either. That of course meant a penalty shootout and that took long enough. When the dust finally settled it was the Celts that were left standing, gutting for the Tangerines though as they lost last year's final in a shootout.

And so we now have the final which will be between Rangers and Celtic at Hampden Park. The Old Firm rivalry is legendary but the two sides haven't faced each other in the Scottish League Cup since '06 and the last final between the pair was in '03 with the blue half of Glasgow celebrating on that occasion after a 3-1 Gers win. With both sides dominant in the SPL, it should be a tasty encounter and in a Cup match anything can happen. However with the Celts having the edge in the SPL right now, the safe bet is for Gordon Strachen's crew to take the trophy for the first time since '06. However in truth the match is one of those too close to call encounters.

As for the Scottish Cup 4th round tie between Highland League side Inverurie Locos and Motherwell at Harlaw Park? Postponed. Two more times now. You have to wonder now, is a few more days really going to make much difference when it comes to getting frost off a Highland League pitch? They're coming up to the slots for the fifth round games, sooner or later they are going to have to shift the tie to Pittodrie or somehwhere. And yet, the SFA don't have to do that so they won't. We're really coming up to the last opportunity the teams are going to have to get this tie sorted out before other teams get caught in this mess. Fingers crossed.

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