SCOUSERS SUNK

 

Well again we had trouble at Anfield with Liverpool beating us 2-0 on their turf earlier this season. Since then though we've got our act together a bit more, and have made it to the top of the Premiership. And yet we have tqwo major rivals breathing down our necks. The Scousers in the meantime...are doing better than they were, but are now in danger of becoming a Europa League club. So, this Premiership match at Old Trafford was dead crucial for both sides. United went 4-5-1. Park, Carrick and Fletcher filled central midfield. Rooney up front. And the Scouse commentator on Fanzone was initially a no show. Still, United had a lot to prove against their old rivals.

Well by the time the Fanzone Scouser turned up, his team had taken the lead. In the 5th minute Steven Gerrard found Dirk Kuyt who found the head of Fernando Torres and I was left thinking "not again". It turned out not to be a major problem though. In the 12th minute Pool conceded a penalty and though Rooney missed the initial shot, he slotted in the rebound without trouble. After that though the rest of the first half turned out to be a relatively dull affair. Still, United seemed to have the edge and going in at half time evens wasn't that bad a scoreline. At least we didn't look like getting humiliated this time around, but the Scousers couldn't be discounted.

The second half started out equally quietly but sooner or later one team was going to step up a gear and that team turned out to be United. In the 60th minute a Fletcher cross found Park's head and United took the lead. After that though, the game really cruised to a halt to a large extent but by that point it didn't matter. Liverpool blew a late chance and despite a ton of injury time, our old rivals never looked like getting back into the game after that. Had we really not gotten a win over the Scousers since 07/08? Well that's that run ended at least. Always good to beat the Anfield crew and now there can't ge that many more teams to face who can be expected to beat us.

Elsewhere, Arsenal faced West Ham at the Emirates Stadium. Denilson opened the scoring for the Gunners early on and Arsene Wenger's crew maintained an edge over the Hammers for the rest of the first half despite going down to ten men and the visitors missing the resulting penalty. The Hammers went on to have their uses in the second half, only for the Gunners to step up a gear and Cesc Fabregas finished the match off with Arsenal's second goal. That leaves United top of the Premiership, with Arsenal now the nearest challengers, having found a late surge to rest just two points behind up, overtaking Chelsea who drew 1-1 with Blackburn at Ewood Park.

Elsewhere, Aberdeen continued their SPL campaign. First up came a 1-0 defeat to St Johnstone at McDiamond Park with the Saints getting an early winner to continue the Dons misery, their form turning into freefall. Then came a 2-2 draw with Dundee United at Pittodrie which is theory wasn't that bad a result given that the Dons had come back from two down but still, an eleven game winless streak tells me that something has gone seriously wrong. The Dons slip down to 8th in the SPL, nine points behind Hearts and the top half of the table and only nine points ahead of Falkirk and relegation. It's an absolute disaster of a season.

Finally Rangers faced St Mirren in the CIS Insurance Cup final at Hampden Park. The Buddies had the first real opportunity of the match and went on to give their Old Firm opponents a headache in the frst half but still, it was goalless at half time. The second half looked like it would be a disaster for the Gers though. They found themselves down to first ten men, then nine. And yet still Kenny Miller headed in the winner for the Blues. Congratulations to the Gers who win the competition for the first time since '08. People may complain about the Old Firm's domination of Scottish football but winning trophies certainly never gets old for this team.

Click here to visit the football archive

Comments get emailed here

Click here to return to sports homepage

Click here to return to Matt G's homepage