MACHEDA DOES IT AGAIN

 

(Image taken from Manutd.com)

Well we'd already faced Sunderland at Old Trafford in the Premiership this season and that match turned out to be tighter than expected, United only winning thanks to an injury time goal. Since then, United looked to have secured the title only for the Scousers to have become a serious threat again. For Sunderland's part, well they've gotten caught up in the relegation dogfight, so they had every reason to want to take points off us. And so we headed for the Stadium of Light. We went 4-4-2. Foster in goal, Neville(captain) at right back, O'Shea left back. Park right mid, Carrick and Scholes centre mid, Rooney left mid, Berbatov and Tevez up front.

Well credit where credit's due Sunderland certainlygave us trouble early on but we then started giving as good as we got and broke the Black Cats when Wayne crossed to Scholes in the 19th minute and the veteran midfielder headed in. Sunderland certainly tried to get back in the match but their strikers certainly haven't been on form recently but we still wound up dodging our share of bullets as the half went on. Despite this spell of home superiority, we still had a decent chance of going two up before half time. Still, the half time lead that we did have was very welcome, the question was, were we going to be able to hold on to it with the top spot in the balance.

Well United may have had the early attacking in the second half but again we were found wanting at the other end. Teemo Tainio sent over a cross in the 55th minute and messy goalkeeping meant that Kemye Jones was able to level the match. United knew that that left them in trouble so the Sunderland goal was battered in an effort to find a winner. Another part of that effort involved bringing on Macheda and again he did the business, this time in the 76th minute when he steered Carrick's shot into the net. That goal effectively broke the Black Cats for good and we were able to cruise to another three points and go one step closer to another title.

Elsewhere, Liverpool faced Blackburn at Anfield in Pool's last home game before Hillsborough(RIP to the 96). Well Fernando Torres opened the scoring with a scorcher before the Spanish assasin grabbed a second goal to set the Scousers up nicely for a win. Rafa Benitez's crew looked to have settled for that scoreline untill Daniel Agger got their third goal and just when Blackburn were waiting for the final whistle, David Ngog grabbed a fourth goal for Pool. Even that sort of Liverpool win sill leaves United top of the Premiership though, a point ahead of the Scousers with a game in hand and that'll be our next Premiership game - dare I say it, we may have ridden out the storm.

North of the border, Aberdeen faced Inverness CT at Pittodrie in the SPL. The first half was realatively uneventfuul but both sides certainly had chances and the game looked to be going either way at half time though Caley were over-ambitious with their best chance. The Dons ran the show in the second half though and eventually the Caley defence gave way to a McDonald header and the visitors never looked like finding an equaliser. Finally the Dons have won a game! It's their first win since mid-March and certainly what they needed to get their charge for Europe back on track. This hope is now that it's not too little too late.

Elsewhere, well Rangers beat St Mirren 2-1 at St Mirren Park in their game in hand after competing in the CIS Insurance Cup final before beating Motherwell 3-1 at Ibrox with that game practically finished off within ten minutes. Dundee United beat Hamilton 1-0 at New Douglas Park with the Tangerines scoring the only goal of the match very early on and having the much better game afterwards, Hamilton having limited opportunities at getting an equaliser. That leaves the Dons still 4th in the SPL and on course for a Europa League spot. They lie twenty two points behind Rangers though(so they can forget about having a go at the Champions League) and level on points with Dundee United and another season of non-European football but with a +2 goal difference advantage.

Now to turn round our European troubles.

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