IT'S GETTING CLOSER

 

(Image taken from Manutd.com)

The Premiership season had just gotten interesting. Chelsea were still top of the table but not only did they no longer have a game in hand over United, but they were very much now in shooting distance for the Reds. Furthermore, United were gradually returning to full strength. The question was would it be too little too late? Let's face it - it's coming up to mid-February and Carlo Ancelotti's crew still need to be overhauled. Having said that, the Blues haven't excactly looked invincible themselves at various points in the season. Still, at this point United are still doing the chasing and still need to win games so let's see what can be done for the rest of the season.

First up came Portsmouth at Old Trafford. Well Pompey be debt-ravaged and dead-men-walking in football terms as well this season nut they certainly looked to give us a match early on. That came to an end before half time though when Rooney hit the net yet again and then Pompey defender Anthony Vanden Borre put the ball in his own net. United then buried their opponents in the second half with further goals from Carrick and Berbatov before Marc Wilson became the second Portsmouth player to score an own goal that day. United's third 5-0 win of the season and hopefully a resultthat would have got the Blues attention.

Next up came Villa at Villa Park. Things didn't go to plan when Carlos Jimenez Cuellar opened the scoring for Villa but when James Collins put the ball in his own net the game was back on though United coming in at half time with ten men didn't help. However even a man down, the Reds were able to run the show in the second half. However the Villa defence proved stubborn and the Reds weren't able to turn the game around. Not an ideal result given that the Carling Cup final against Villa is just around the corner and Martin O'Neill's side have already beaten us at Old Trafford and it was ceratainly hard not to think of it as two more points dropped.

Elsewhere, Chelsea beat Arsenal 2-0 at Stamford Bridge but then surprisingly ran into trouble when they lost 2-1 to Everton at Goodison Park despite opening the scoring early on. Great result for the Toffees and their ex-United players. The big surprise though is that Liverpool finally seem to be getting their act together, beating Everton 1-0 at Anfield. Having said that, they still lost 1-0 to Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium so maybe aren't out of the woods quite yet. Anyway, United currently lie 2nd in the Premiership, just one point behind leaders Chelsea but thirteen points ahead of Liverpool and a detour through the Champions League preliminaries.

North of the border, Aberdeen faced SD1 Raith Rovers in the Scottish Cup 5th round at Stark's Park. Things didn't go to plan for the Dons as Ian Williamson opened the scoring for Raith in a match played on a seriously ugly pitch. Raith turned out to have enough ex-SPL players to cause the Dons regular headaches and for most of the match it looked like it would be an all-too-familiar story for the Dons in Cup football but then McDonald levelled the match late on. That sets up a replay at Pittodrie, not really what Mark McGhee would have had in mind but probably all the Dons deserved on the day, definately a messy display from them.

 

Elsewhere, an all-SPL tie took place between St Johnstone and Dundee United at McDiamond Park. The Saints felt they should have had a penalty early on in the first half but after that failed to matierialise, the visitors opened the scoring just before half time through David Goodwillie. The Tangerines continued to run the show throughout the second half and though the Saints came close to an equaliser, their Cup run is over for another year. That means that the New Firm make up two out of seven SPL sides that are involved in the Scottish Cup quarter final draw. So far it's looking like a relatively straightforward tournament with the big teams still in the picture.

As for Aberdeen's fate in those quarter finals, well their immediate concern is a 5th round replay against SD1 Raith Rovers at Pittodrie. Well after dodging a bullet in the first game, the Reds should hopefully be able to see off the underdogs at home. That would set up a quarter final match against SD1 Dundee at Dens Park. Now this will not be as straightforward as it seems. Firstly, Dundee are the leaders of their division. Secondly, they have already mugged the Dons this season, knocking them out of the CIS Cup. Given the Dons current form, they'll probably need a replay at least to make the semis but it should certainly still be doable.

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