UNITED SCRAMBLE WIN AT LAST

 

 

Well we'd already faced Villa once this season and only managed to get out with a 0-0 draw at Villa Park. Since then, well Villa are still having their best season for a while and are still in the race for a Champions League spot, though their form has been hit and miss recently. As for United, well we paused for international games off the back of two defeats in a row and the Premiership title suddenly up for grabs again. And we wound up hosting Villa at Old Trafford with a whole load of suspensions and injuries. Neville returned as captain and right back, it was Evans and O'Shea at centre back, Carrick and Fletcher centre mid. Nani left mid and Tevez and Giggsy up front.

Well Villa certainly had the opening attacks but United couldn't be kept down for long and the no-back-pass rule wound up coming to our aid in the 14th minute, Ronaldo able to fire in a close range free kick. Still though, Villa couldn't be kept down, Martin O'Neill's men kept hammering our goal and after dodging a few bullets, United finally succumbed in the 30th minute when Gareth Barry crossed the ball to John Carew and Villa were level. Both sides had good chances in what remained of the half but the scores were still level. That was a blessing for United really, Fergie certainly had some noise to make at half time given that we needed a win with the Scousers breathing down our necks.

The second half started fairly slowly but it was long before the Villa fan was gloating on Fanzone, saying "they don't want it" and sure enough, had the upper hand in terms of play again, capped when Carew crossed to Gabriel Agbonlahor in the 58th minute. Now we were in trouble, with Fergie forced to give a debut to Italian academy star Frederico Macheda. Now United were hammering the Villa goal on a regular basis and in the 80th minute Carrick found Ronaldo who was able to find the net for his and United's second goal of the game. We were back in it but could really do with a win and yes, I cheered when we were given that much injury time but during those dying minutes Giggsy set up Macheda and our newest Italian assassin spun before striking the ball into the top corner, making his dreams come true and giving us our messiest win of the season.

Elsewhere, Fulham faced Liverpool at Craven Cottage. Well the Scousers battered the Fulham goal in the first half but somehow blew all their chances, a mixture of goalie and woodwork denying them a deserved demolition. More of the same was to come in the second half, with Fulham only stepping up their game slightly, and it looked as though the Scousers were going to finally drop points on this ocasion. Not so, Yossi Benayoun hit a late winner to keep their title charge going. Well that leaves United still top of the Premiership, but the Scousers are still only one point behind us even though we still have that game in hand. It's getting tight.

North of the border, Aberdeen faced Motherwell at Fir Park in the SPL. Things didn't go to plan early on for the Dons when James O'Brien opened the scoring for Well and to be fair, the home side did have the better of the first half. Things didn't look like improving in the second half either, yet against the run of play, Maguire, coming off the back of scoring for Scotland's under 21s, grabbed an equaliser. The Dons wound up finishing with 10 men but were still able to grab a point. At some point the Dons will remember how to win a game, preferably before the end of the season. Till then, Dons fans just have to hope that their luck holds out.

Elsewhere, Rangers beat Falkirk 1-0 at Falkirk Park, the Gers scoring the game's only goal early on even though Falkirk had the slightly better game overall, though there were mitigating circumstances after two disciplinary action after stunts pulled by two of their players during international week. Dundee United drew 2-2 with Hibs at Tannadice Park, Hibs going two up early on with the Tangerines pulling level in the second half. That allows Aberdeen to remain 4th in the SPL and on course for a Europa League spot. They're now nineteen points behind Rangers and a Champions League spot and won't be in that race for much longer, while being level on points with Dundee United and another season of non-European football but with a +2 goal difference advantage.

And now it's back to Champions League business.

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