UNITED BREAK HARD TOFFEES

 

 

Everton are an interesting side from a United perspective. We have a shared rivalry with Liverpool but Wayne's history at Goodison Park makes things interesting but with Phil Neville now their skipper, the balance has been redressed to an extent. Last season none of that mattered, early on in the season we conquered Goodison Park with a close win. Then during the festive period, the Toffees came to Old Trafford, and we wound up having the last laugh there as well. David Moyes team still made it into the UEFA Cup that season but United claimed a bigger prize, a second Premiership title in a row. The Blues are certainly becoming a straightforward side for us.

Well, that was before this season. A 1-1 draw at Goodison Park wasn't really what we had in mind early on but it was symptomatic of the early stages of our season. Now we're top of the league with Everton in the chase for a Europa League spot. And the Toffees headed to Old Trafford with us starting to look invincible in the Premiership. For United it was minimal changes, just Fletcher teaming up with Carrick in centre midfield. Everton aren't exactly a useless team but they surely weren't going to be in our class either. The hope was that we would be chalking up another three points and letting our rivals take points off each other. You can never take anything for granted though.

United, in confident mood, hammered the Everton goal. Slight problem, the Everton goalie kept getting in the way and so despite the fact that the Blues didn't field a striker worthy of the name, we weren't able to quite rip them apart. The Tofees were also reliant on luck a lot of the time, with the Reds hitting the woodwork and getting caught offside enough times. Going all-out-defence against us is only of limited use though and eeventually we broke though, with David Moyes later claiming our 44th minute penalty was 'soft'. Whatever. United did the business. The question now was, would Everton make any attacking afforts whatsoever?

The immediate answer was no, but still, credit to ex-United goalie Tim Howard for making sure that his side didn't crumble under the pressure, by all rights they deserved to. Everton did get given a chance from a freekick that proved to be no threat whatsoever and at the other end we could in theory have had another penalty but nothing doing this time around. Congratulations is in order for van de Saar who can now claim to be the goalie who's kept the longest clean sheet of all time during an English league season. Everton's most serious attack though came right at the end of the match and ended in a penalty claim but nothing was given.

Elsewhere, Liverpool faced Chelsea at Anfield in what was the biggest game of the weekend. Liverpool had a slight edge in the first half but overall it was a tight opening with most of the action happening in midfield. Things got more interesting in the second half, particularly as Chelsea went down to ten men. That allowed the Scousers to be let loose but the match was still goalless before Fernando Torres grabbed two late goals to secure a major win. That still leaves United top of the Premiership, two points ahead of the second placed team which is now Liverpool. Sounds good for the Scousers, untill you remember that we still have a game in hand.

North of the border, Aberdeen faced Falkirk at the Falkirk Stadium in the SPL. Things got mess early on and the first half proved to be a bit scrappy with neither side able to take control, the Dons probably having the best chance of the half. That didn't count for anything though after Falkirk's Michael Higdon hit the net. Jimmy Calderwood brought on the subs but it was the home side that had taken control could have made it two before the final whistle. This can't have been what Calderwood had had in mind after the Dons recent results against the Old Firm. Hopefully this'll go down as just a blip and the Reds will resume their chase for a European spot ASAP.

Elsewhere, Hamilton beat Hearts 2-0 at New Douglas Park with goals either side of half time with the Edinburgh side humiliated in front of their owner despite actually having the better game and the Accies loking to get clear of the relegation battle. Motherwell then drew 1-1 with Hibs in a midtable clash at Easter Road. Hibs opened the scoring early on but the Well were able to find a deserved equaliser after having by far the better match. That allows Aberdeen to remain in 5th place in the SPL, one point behind Hearts and a Europa League spot while eight points ahead of Motherwell and the bottom half of the table. Sounds like they dodged a bullet.

As for the Scottish Cup 4th round match between Highland League side Inverurie Locos and Motherwell at Harlaw Park, well it finally went ahead despite a dusting of snow. John Sutton opened the scoring early on for the big name visitors but other than that, the underdogs were able to hold out till half time. They were then finished off after the interval with David Clarkson hitting the net before Sutton grabbed his second to finally put this tie to bed. That makes it a pretty succsessful Scottish Cup 4th round for the SPL sides with 11 out of 12 teams reaching the last 16, resulting in a lot of all-SPL clashes. Looks like it'll be one of the more straightforward Cups this season.

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