WIGAN WIPED OUT, BIRMINGHAM WIN CARLING CUP

 

 

Ever since they first arrived in the Premiership, Wigan have always been easy meet for MUFC and last season was no different. First up, we beat them 5-0 at the JJB Stadium which was pretty awesome, even though we scored all of our goals in the second half. We were hardly likely to show them much more mercy at Old Trafford, and sure enough that finished in another 5-0 win, though this time the goals were more evenly distributed. Fact is though, those performances weren't enough to win us the title or keep the Latics from going down. The fact is though, we have a 100% record against Wigan in the Premiership, they just can't handle us.

This time around, well that looked unlikely to change after we beat them again at Old Trafford, this time 2-0. Since then, well, top of the Premiership and no sign of slowing down? That'll do me nicely. Wigan in the meantime were in pretty deep trouble so you'd have thought that this trip to the DW Stadium would be a pretty straightforward one. Well United switched to a 4-4-2 on this occasion, Fletcher right mid, Carrick and Scholes centre mid, Nani left mid, Rooney and Hernandez up front. A pretty solid lineup and hopefully good enough to get our usual three points from this stadium, or at least produce a better game than we've done for a while.

Well it was Wigan that had the first opportunity of the match, but that was smoothly dealt with by our goalie but their goalie couldn't deal with Nani's cross finding Hernandez's head in the 17th minute. 1-0 United. Other then that though, it was one of Wigan's better performances against us over the years, their defence proving stubborn and Victor Moses proving a problem at the other end. United still came in at half time with a clean sheet though. This half reminded me of those occasions, particularly in their first couple of seasons in the Premiership where they gave us a particularly big headache on their turf. As long as we still got the win I wasn't going to complain.

The second half started slowly, with United working their way through the gears while continuing to have issues from the opposition though again we were able to survive their raids without any serious concern and a second United goal looked inevitable. It happened in the 74th minute when Hernandez fired off one shot, knocked the rebound to Wayne who returned the pass for the Mexican to grab his second. Then in the 84th minute sub Berbatov cruised through only to slide the ball to Rooney for him to join the party. Then in the 87th minute, another sub, Fabio, picked up Fletcher's cross to grab his first goal for United. Mission accomplished, with style.

Elsewhere, Arsenal faced Stoke at the Emirates Stadium. Sebastian Sqillachi opened the scoring for the Gunners early on but a serious injury not long afterwards wouldn't have put Arsene Wenger in that good a mood. Another big injury was to follow in the second half and the match was a fairly even contest that Stoke were never quite out of. Right at the end of the match they had an opportunity to equalise. Arsenal held on though. That means that United remain top of the Premiership, four points ahead of nearest challengers Arsenal. The fact is, the Gunners and everyone else are running out of time to put the brakes on United. Steady as she goes Fergie.

However, the one match that most English football fans had at least one eye on over the weekend was the Carling Cup final. It's not a tournament that many will ever take that seriously but that just means that the underdogs are more likely to have a laugh at the expense of the big timers. One example of this was United getting caned by West Ham in the quarter finals this year, which was humiliating. Yet the final of the competition will always be worth a look - largely because it 'is' a final and still give a team a place in the history books and that should still count for something right? Well by the time you get to the final it usually does.

The last time Arsenal made the final of this tournament was back in '07 when what was as per usual an Arsenal reserves side got beaten 2-1 by Chelsea at the Millenium Stadium in what was a rather ugly affair. The last time the Gunners wom the trophy, you have to go back to when it was called the Coca Cola Cup. George Graham was the gaffer, with Paul Merson and Steve Morrow getting the goals as they beat Sheffield Wednesday 2-1 in what was then an all-Premiership encounter back in '93. For Birmingham, this was their first time in the final of this competition since '01, when Trevor Francis was their manager and they were in the second tier. They drew 1-1 after extra time with Liverpool in what was then the Worthington Cup final before losing on penalties. The last time they won the trophy you have to go way back to 1963 when the competition was simply known as the League Cup and the final was a two legged affair. They beat Villa 3-1 on aggregate with the first leg at St Andrews.

Fast forward to the present day and this clash, unlike the '01 final was an all-Premiership encounter and Alex McLeish, captain of the Aberdeen side I watched in the early 90s was preparing for his first Cup final south of the border as Birmingham manager. Arsenal were looking to end a trophy famine that has lasted way too long from their fans perspective and fewer people are taking them seriouslyy. McLeish's crew in the meantime are just happy to be at the Carling Cup final at Wembley. The Gunners looked to be the obvious favourites for the trophy - surely they couldn't blow this latest chance at glory? Or could they, Brum certainly looked useful in the semis.

Well Brum had the first chance of the game but couldn't make much of it though they did try and claim a penalty. Arsenal then started to play their smooth passing game but weren't able to get the ball past the Brum goalie. Eventually, Arsene Wenger's crew got frustrated and the Blues countered. The result was a 28th minute corner wich Roger Johnson headed towards Nicola Zigic to give Brum the lead. Arsenal replied in the 38th minute when Jack Wilshire slammed the ball against the bar only for Andrei Arshavin to pick up the rebound and feed Robin van Persie who scored from close range! So far it looked to be anyone's game.

Arsenal had the first chance of the second half but generally looked to be doing their usual trick of having plenty of posession but being unable to find the net. Of course Brum had their own opportunities and came close to showing the Champions League side how it should be done. As the game went on substitutions were made but neither side seemed likely to get a winner and therefore extra time seemed inevitable. Brum had other ideas though. In the 89th minute the Arsenal goal spilled a shot by Zigic which allowed one of Brum's subs, Oberfemi Martins took advantage of the failed clearance and made himself, currently on loan from RPL side Rubin Kazan, an immortal in Birmingham City history!

So, congratations to Birmingham City for winning their first League Cup since 1963 and of course, specific congratulations to Alex McLeish for his first trophy south of the border! Given that the League Cup was taken even less seriously in 1963 than it is today, this is arguably the finest moment in Brum's history and surely puts McLeish near the head of the queue to be Fergie's succsessor. Having said that, their main priority now has to be staying in the Premiership. Again this makes me wonder why teams don't get given bonus points for winning the cups, they would stop seeming like a distraction then! Right now though, Brum fans aren't going to care too much about that.

North of the border, Aberdeen continued their SPL campaign. First up came a 1-0 win over Hamilton at Pittodrie with the Reds winning the match through a first half penalty while Hamilton's efforts came to nothing. Then came a 0-0 draw with Hearts at Pittodries with the visitors really fancying their chances going into this much but a tough tight affair left Craig Brown quietly satisfied with the progress the Reds have made since he took over. That means that the Dons have risen to 8th in the SPL, three points behind Inverness CT and the top half of the table and fifteen points ahead of Hamilton and relegation though the Accies have a game in hand.

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