Article by Mark Graham, Stats Nerd

Match Review
Manchester United 1 v 1 Middlesbrough, Old Trafford, Manchester, 17.15pm, Saturday 21st April 2007.
Goals: Manchester United: Richardson (3)     Middlesbrough: Viduka (45).
Attendance: 75,967

United took a real smack in the proverbial Championship face as Old Trafford visitors Middlesbrough were well worthy of there accumulated point after limiting a very poor United team performance to only 1 shot on target. Rio Ferdinand made it back into the starting 11 & SAF opted to rest Ryan Giggs for Richardson with the visit of the match fixing dirty Italians on Tuesday.

United started off extremely well, finding themselves a goal up before 5 minutes had passed as arguably the only shining United player Paul Scholes sent a missile of a pass 70 yards to the onrushing Wayne Rooney who being played onside by Woodgate advanced on goal before rounding Mark Schwarzer, unable to finish his work Rooney left the goal to Kieran Richardson who slotted home.

United created very little in the 1st half of note & looked a poor shadow of their normal self's, and shortly before the half time break, United were hit with a double whammy as Rio Ferdinand aggravated his groin injury & with the injury effecting his manoeuvrability, the Reds defender was powerless to intercept as Mark Viduka claimed his 16th goal of the season after beating Wes Brown to Stewart Downing dangerous cross, on study of TV replays of the cross, it was made apparent that with Ferdinand's injury, the England defender was hampered and would have easily cleared the danger averting the goal if fully fit.

Richardson & Ferdinand were both suffered injuries at half time and were replaced by Giggs & Fletcher &  United for the entire second half created no shots on goal & were up against Boro side who if they were to play like their performance suggested every week would be in a much better position in the Premiership table

With Viduka & Yakubu making there presence known to United's "patch work quilt" back four & Stewart Downing giving JOS a hard time on the wings, Boro always looked like another goal could come.

EVDS was then forced to make a important save from Viduka as Boro looked the more likely to break the deadlock.

With the Reds stagnant & punch less up front & the only real movement coming from Cristiano Ronaldo Dos Santos Aviero, SAF opted to remove Smith for Solskjaer hoping the veteran Norwegian could perhaps lift the Reds.

Boro continued their efforts to take the lead and Lee Cattermole who scored in the FA Cup against the Reds almost scored again after his hammered effort went narrowly wide.

United then finally ended up with the ball in the back of the net as Ole stayed with the Boro keeper as he prepared to kick the ball up field from his hands & giving the Norwegian 10/10 for effort he pinched the ball from the Aussie keeper as the ball left his possession & Solskjaer ran toward goal scoring what could arguably have been a legitimate goal, however the referee didn't see it like United & OGS was book for unsportsmanlike conduct.

For the second match running United should have conceded a penalty as Dong-Gook Lee was floored by JOS but fortunately the Reds got away again.

Thank You Newcastle!!!!.


United Starting Line-up
Player Ratings in parenthesis
Van der Sar (6); O'Shea (5), Ferdinand  (6), Brown (5), Heinze (6); Ronaldo (5), Scholes (7), Carrick (6), Richardson (6); Smith (5), Rooney (5).
Subs Used:  Fletcher (5) for Ferdinand (46 mins), Giggs (5) for Richardson (46 mins), Solskjaer (6) for Smith (67 mins).
Subs not used: Kuszczak, Eagles.

United's Man of the Match
In a match where the whole team had a bad day at the office, Paul Scholes escaped with his head held high

Keano16's Reaction
With Chelski failing to accomplish what United failed to accomplish in winning a fixture which was a dead cert three points, the title race is as you were   Thank F*ck for the Barcodes.

Moan of the Match
A real poor team performance saw United have only 1 shot on goal at home in the entire 90 minutes  & another key injury to worry about.

Was Our Prediction Right?
We said 3-0, United Rant 7 v 47 Wrong Predictions.

Milestones
Kieran Richardson's 2nd Premiership goal of his United career & 11th goal overall.

Paul Scholes's 520th competitive game for United.
John O'Shea's 240th competitive game for United.

Miscellaneous Info
United’s next match is on Tuesday 24th April 2007 (H) to AC Milan in the UCL Semi Final 1st Leg, 19.45pm K.O. G.M.T.