ROONEY BLUNTS BLADES
(Image taken from Manutd.com)
The last time Sheffield United were in the Premiership, I was still a kid north of the border, reading about the Blades getting relegated in Match magazine. For Red Devils fans 93/94 was the year of "Come on You Reds" and the first United double with Giggsy the only current player whose name was sung in that tune. That United side certainly played their part in downing the Blades that season, beating them 3-0 at Old Trafford and 2-0 at Bramall Lane.
And so, after over a decade United are headed back to Bramall Lane with Giggsy's current captain Gary Neville probably having sung along to "come on you Reds" as a young player about to break through into the first team. The Blades have already gotten sucked into the relegation dogfight though and with Fergie leaving the starting XI from the Blackburn game well alone, this certainly looked like a fairly easy three points for the visitors.
United were certainly the side that started off on the front foot and the opening scorer of the match was certainly associated with United. Unfortunately it was Keith Gillespie, benefitting from a 13th minute cross from debutant Nicky Law to score against the side he left for Newcastle back in '95 as a makeweight for Andy Cole! United responded by banging on the Blades door some more and should have had a penalty, not that it mattered when Gary fired in a perfecto cross for Rooney to shove in. The players still weren't happy with the ref at half time though.
The second half was pretty even with the match looking deadlocked and United looking like they were going to get embarrassed. However the half was not going to be uneventful as an Evra cross found Rooney who blasted home from a tight angle in the 75th minute. It certainly killed off the home side, with the Reds finishing the match as they started it, battering the home goal. The fact that, as Johnathon Pearce said, the last time the Sheffield side won this fixture, Sean Bean hit the winner says it all.
Elsewhere, Chelsea beat West Ham 1-0 at Stamford Bridge with Geremi hitting the winner in the match that the Blues pretty much dominated, not that it was likely to ever do them much good. That leaves them three points behind United at the top of the Premiership and with United chalking up the wins it's the Chelsea allstars for once that are in an all or nothing situation when they come up to Old Trafford next week, if United win that, it's game over.
North of the border, Aberdeen faced St Mirren at Pittodrie. The first half was a gallery of missed opportunities for the Dons as the visitors forced the home attack into giving the ball away too easily and when chances did come they were very weak. The Reds did a better job in the second half though as the Reds turned up the pace before substitute Darren Mackie came one to hit the net twice and allow his side to chalk up another win with a UEFA Cup spot looking certain.
European football at Pittodrie looks even more secure after the Dons became the latest beneficary of Hearts' self-destruction. The surprise package of last season lost 1-0 to Rangers at Tynecastle sending them out of the European placings altogether so that now even local rivals Hibs are ahead of them. That puts the Dons up to third in the SPL, not only three points ahead of Hearts but level on points with second place Rangers with only a -1 goal difference deficit. Celtic beat Inverness Caley 3-0 at Celtic Park to remain top of the table.
And talking about Celtic, the biggest match in both the English and Scottish football seasons combined is midweek!
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