HUNGRY RUUD BOY TAKES LARGE BITE OUT OF CHELSEA'S LEAD

 

(Image taken from Manutd.com)

 

United came out of last weekend still trailing Chelsea by double figures. On the other hand we still had a game in hand over the Cocky One and crew. Result, a chance to keep the title race alive, particularly with the Ruud boy set to make a comeback. The rumours said that the Dutch assasin was on his way to Inter Milan - hopefully those rumours were going to be untrue. Still, the guy did have something to prove.

Ruud's comeback game was alongside Rooney for our game in hand over Chelsea against West Ham at Old Trafford only for the Hammers to have the better start to the game but sure enough United started turning up the heat and of course it had to be the Ruud boy that broke the door down by sending a Ji-Sung Park cross into the net for the only goal of the game.

Unfortunately for Ruud, he returned to the bench for our trip to the Reebok Stadium to face Bolton. Rooney and Saha up front and Bolton opened the scoring through Kevin Davis. However first Saha drew level before half time then then van Nistelroy was finally unleashed late on to hit a late winner. Great result particularly given the home record of Sam Allardyce's crew.

Elsewhere, Chelsea's title pace is starting to collapse. A goalless draw with Birmingham at St Andrews makes Steve Bruce the latest recipient of a case of red wine from Fergie. With no recent away form to speak of, the Blues' lead at the top of the Premiership is down to seven points. Could United yet win the title despite Chelsea's electric form earlier in the season? Hell yes, Kevin Keegan's Newcastle collapsed after building up a large leaded midseason back in 95/96 and we've still got a visit to Stamford Bridge to come. Liverpool did manage to beat West Brom at the Hawthorns 2-0 though, leaving them five points behind United in third place though we still have a game in hand over them.

North of the border, Aberdeen have surged into sixth place with a 1-0 win over Inverness CT at the Caledonian Stadium. Jimmy Calderwood's gameplan seems to be for the Dons to come out swinging so they can garantee a top half finish and it seems to be working, the Reds hammering their neighbours before eventually Caley submitted after Steve Lowell took advantage of some braindead defending to hit a late winner.

The other main event in Scotland was the semi finals of the Scottish Cup at Hampden Park...complete with the very freaky idea of Division Two side Gretna making the final after a 3-0 win over Dundee. However they're still likely to get caned though as Hearts won the virtual final north of the border by beating Hibs 4-0.

European action to be tidied up midweek.

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