FROM THIRD TO TOP IN A WEEK

 

 

Last time around, Bolton, as per usual, didn't make it easy for us on their turf. It hadn't been long since Gary Megson had taken over from Archine Knox(and Sammy Lee before him) and they beat us 1-0 at the Reebok Stadium before we got a degree of payback by beating them 2-0 at Old Trafford. We went one better in 06/07 though. Firstly, we deep fried them at Reebok Stadium, and that's something which is definately easier said than done. And then we toasted them again at Old Trafford, leading us to pick up two Premiership titles in a row while Bolton spent last season dodging relegation after one of their better campaigns the previous year got them into the UEFA Cup.

Well we'd already dealt with Bolton once this season and that resulted in a straightforward 2-0 win at Old Trafford. Since then, Bolton have in theory gotten well clear of the relegation zone but the bottom half of the table is as tight as the roads in the dead ends of Devon. And besides, a Premiership game at the Reebok Stadium is never straightforward. For United it was Neville at right back and captain, Carick and Anderson in centre mid, Fletcher left mid and Berbatov and Tevez up front. The top of the league was in sight for the first time this season and this was with our game in hand still a month away. Time to see if we could pull off one heck of a turnaround.

Well United certainly had the opportunities, Bolton did what they usually do against us, go all out defence(though one of their new boys thought that barging into our defenders was fair game). However our attackers weren't exactly firing on all cylinders. Our passing was dodgy and what shots we did have were nothing that Jari Jaskelainen couldn't handle! Bolton had some chances of their own eventually but overall, this looked to be one of the duller games of the season. Some long shots late on let Bolton know that our guys were still on the pitch. However, overall, it was exactly the sort of match I'd been worrying about, with the Reds seemingly having an off day.

Bolton were seemingly running the show early in the second half with the Reds dodging an early bullet as the ball landed on the roof of our net. You can't keep United down forever though and soon we were giving Bolton more serious problems, however the home side's defence just seemed to soak things up. Fergie decided that some fresh(though old) legs we the solution but still, Gary Megson's side seemed to have our number once again. That was untill the 90th minute when Tevez finally shook off the entire Bolton defence to set up Berbatov who finally managed to hit the net. Somehow, we had done it and were top of the league - for now!

However, our longer term prospects relied on events elsewhere, specifically Liverpool facing Everton at Anfield. It was the Blue half of Scousekand that had the early opportunities but the the Reds were soon in business themselves, even if neither side was able to score any goals before half time. That changed when Steven Gerrard hit the net for the Reds and Pool decided to hold on to their lead rather than go for a second. That plan backfired when Tim Cahil equalised for Everton! And that meant that United were sorted, we are now top of the Premiership, yes level with the second place Scousers but with a +2 goal difference and still a game in hand. Not bad given how out of it we were early on in the season.

North of the border, Aberdeen faced Celtic at Pittodrie in the SPL in what looked to be the match of the Scottish football weekend. It proved to be a great start for the Reds when Gary McDonald opened the scoring but Scot Brown equalised for the Celts soon afterwards. The Dons still went ahead before half time though, thanks to Stuart Duff getting his first goal for the club! Celtic were looking for an equaliser early in the second half and finally got it thanks to Scott McDonald. Drawing with the SPL leaders sound good enough but Xander Diamond had other ideas, grabbing two goals for the Dons best result of the season so far! "Can you hear the Celtic sing? No I cannae hear a thing". Absolutely brilliant.

Elsewhere, Dundee United faced Motherwell at Tannadice Park. Well Motherwell may be in midtable mediocrity at the moment but Mark McGhee, Dons legend from the 80s, masterminded a quality effort. Marc Fitzpatrik, Maros Klimpl and David Clarkson all scored for the visitors to effectivly finish the game before half time. Chris Porter then made it four and the Well fans got so high they were shouting for goal number five. They didn't need it. What that does mean is that the Dons move up to 3rd in the SPL and given that they were bottom in the early stages of the season, that is nothing short of awesome. One point ahead of Hearts and another season without European football though still thirteen points off Rangers and a Champions League spot.

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