PAYBACK TIME FULHAM

 

 

Last season, United round up facing Fulham three times in both the Premiership and the FA Cup within a month. First up, we beat them 3-0 at Old Trafford, then we won the FA Cup tie then just over a month after the original Premiership tie, we lost 2-0 at Craven Cottage. In 07/08 we did manage to do the double over them though the first match between the two sides had Lawrie Sanchez as Fulham manager and United won 2-0 at Old Trafford. Then Roy Hodgeson took over but certainly didn't have an immediate effect, And United beat his side 3-0 at Craven Cottage. Under Hodgeson, Fulham have turned into a solid outfit but it's still United that are picking up the trophies.

Having said that, our first encounter this season with Hodgson's crew didn't go so well. We got whacked to the tune of 3-0 at Craven Cottage. Since then though we've finally made it to the top of the league while Fulham have had a reasonable season themselves, setting in mid-table. Cue a Premiership rumble at Old Trafford with the Reds hoping to retain the edge on Chelsea. United went 4-4-2 with Valencia right mid, Carrick and Fletcher centre mid and Nani left mid. Rooney and Berbatov up front. A seemingly straightforward match but we couldn't forget about what happened at their place. Still, that would surely be a big motivation for the Reds.

Well it turned out to be a fairly flat United performance early on - we certainly had enough chances to bury Fulham but we never looked like putting any of them away and particularly early on we just...well I'm not sure what happened, we just didn't look up for it. Occasionally Fulham could claim credit for shutting our attackers down. They certainly could rarely claim credit for doing much at the other end, particularly not after the early stages of the game. The bottom line though was that by the time the half time whistle blew, Mark Schwarzer was still keeping a clean sheet. This was starting to get worrying - we could not afford to blow any more games.

Luckilly Wayne knew that - and in the 46th minute he finished a 1-2 with Nani by slotting the ball into the net. At which point United started looking for a second but again the accuracy of our attackers proved to be a bit iffy. At the other end, Fulham had a reasonable chance late on but it turned out to be nothing that our defence couldn't handle. Then the visitors were finally put away. In the 84th minute Berbatov set up Rooney for yet another goal for the Premiership's deadliest assasin and in the 89th minute sub Park set up Berbatov to finish the opposition off. Talk about a game of two halves. Bottom line though it was mission accomplished once again.

Elsewhere, Chelsea faced West Ham at Stamford Bridge. Alex opened the scoring for Chelsea only for Scott Parker to equalise for the Hammers before half time though Chelsea were dominating the match in terms of chances by that point. It wasn't untill the second hald that the Blues realy took advantage of their superiority. Didier Drogba restored their lead before Florent Malouda got their third goal then Drogba got his second to finish the match off. That leaves United still top of the Premiership, two points ahead of nearest competitors Chelsea though the Blues have a game in hand. At this point though, my United coffee mug is half full.

North of the border, the Scottish Cup quarter finals were taking place. In an all-SPL tie Celtic beat Kilmarnock 3-0 at Rugby Park with the first half proving goalless only for Killie to find themselves buried in the latter stages of the match. In an all-SD1 affair, Dundee were beaten 2-1 by Raith Rovers at Dens Park with Raith managing to knock down the home home side early on though Dundee gave their visitors a rough ride to the finish. That neans that four SPL sides have made it into the Scottish Cup semi final draw and yet there are still replays to come. A few lower division sides in this year's competition have certainly been stubborn.

So, the semi final draw looks like this. Celtic will face whoever wins the quarter final replay between Hibs and SD1 Ross County at Victoria Park. Having blown their home game, I am worried about the SPL side's chances in the replay but either way, it'll be Celtic in the final. Also at Hampden, the winners of the quarter final replay between Rangers and Dundee United at Tannadice Park will face SD1 Dundee. NOt only to a think the Tangerines will set up a Dundee derby in the semis but I reckon they'll make the final. So Celtic vs Dundee United in the Scottish Cup final at Hampden Park, reckon the safe bet for that match would be for Celtic to win.

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