fa premiership, Matchday 33
Old Trafford, Manchester, 17.30pm GMT, Saturday 25th April 2009.
Attendance: 75,458

After a thoroughly enjoyable previous nights entertainment from our West Cumbria Manchester United Supporters Club dinner (article & interview with Ex United keeper Alex Stepney to follow) and the last remnants of the bad back a distant memory, feeling excellent & quietly confident about the game, I took the opportunity to stick one in the eye of my bad back & get into Samuel Platt's pub for a chair even before our branch bus began its journey all thanks to a good friend Mr Steve Rimell.

So at 11am about a hour before the coach arrived, I hung up our branch flag in the pub & chilled with a bottle of Rose Pinot Grigio wine soaking up the atmosphere, not at all expecting how the match would unfold.

SAF opted for starts for Nani, Darren Fletcher, Rafael & a return for Rio Ferdinand as United looked to match the bindippers result earlier in the day after beating Hull 3-1.

Slow & pedestrian United started poorly as Patrice Evra nemesis Aaron Lennon once again was gaining the upper hand on the French full back.

Lennon fashioned the visitors 1st chance when he crossed a ball deep into United's penalty area & after poor marking & positioning by Rio Ferdinand, Darren Bent found himself unmarked at the far post, but wasted his effort as his header was knocked away & saved by EVDS for a corner.

Nani's most telling moment of a poor performance came next when his excellent a cross from the left was met by Cristiano Ronaldo who headed wide when from a better position former Spurs Striker Berbatov was teeing himself up with a header which probably would have given United the lead.

Twenty minutes in United had barely managed much in the way of creating anything as earlier Berbatov had saw a half opportunity after he was threaded a ball through & Ronaldo taking a header from the Bulgarian, coupled with Nani weak shot which Spurs easily smothered United for their possession looked awkward.

With Lennon hugging the right touchline & taking Evra's swashbuckling running out of the equation, Vedran Corluka seized the opportunity to support his right sided partner & pushing up, Lennon send a short ball to the Spurs full back who in turn crossed a high ball into the United penalty area.

Corluka's high crossed ball which usually is headed clear by either Ferdinand or Vidic on more than a regular occasion wasn't dealt with immediately when Vidic struggled to connect with the cross, and with Marcus Bent capitalizing to the max on a Ferdinand dawdle, the Spurs striker pounced on the ball before lashing it past a helpless EVDS.

Three minutes later, disaster, gathering possession Spurs mounted an attack through Robbie Keane & an exchange between Modric & Bent saw Aaron Lennon pop up on the right & promptly skin, yes you guessed it, Patrice Evra, and provide a dangerous cross to the back post, at this point it is worth noting the poor marking & picking up of Spurs players by United, as guilty was Darren Fletcher & our young Brazilian fullback Rafael who showed defensive inexperience after tracking the run of Modric in the early exchange, but failing miserably to continue the duty by taking up position in the centre of defence.

This error by the young & fantastic United prospect then contributed to United's downfall as the Croatian assuming his natural position on the left wing/back post vacated by the Brazilian, unmarked of course & under no pressure, the Modric controlled Aaron Lennon's cross before lashing home with his left foot, leaving Old Trafford silent & shell shocked & 2-0 down.

United's best chance of a half worth forgetting resulted in a world class finger tip save from Brazilian keeper Gomez.

United were awarded a free kick when Woodgate appeared to be in "slow motion" compared to the Portuguese winger, after a lightning quick one two with Berbatov, Woodgate could only bring Ronaldo down gaining a yellow card in the process but eliminating him from collecting Berbatov's excellent pass & running toward goal.

Ronaldo then promptly blasted his free kick at the wall "as per usual"  before snapping at the rebound forcing Gomez into a great save.

Seeing enough of the hopeless contribution of Nani , SAF at half time subbed the winger for Carlos Tevez, who without delay lit a fire under United's arse.

The South American Striker who seemingly has an uncertain future at Old Trafford (Editor: if they wanted him, they would have sorted it out ages ago, don't you agree) was immense as Berbatov playing his best half of football in along time for the Reds used the ball brilliantly as he found Ronaldo, an exchange of passes involving Ronaldo & Tevez had the Argentine crowd favorite through on goal only for his shot to be saved by the feet of Gomez.

Working the ball to perfection, United were unjustly awarded a penalty as a brilliant defence splitting pass from Rooney on the left resulted in Carrick being bundled over in the box, however as replays showed Gomez had infact touched the ball.

With most News sources citing the penalty as the come back instigator, lets all remember folks that we were indeed NOT awarded a certain penalty in a certain FA Cup Semi Final this season.

What was about to transpire was a demonstration of the sheer relentlessness of the class of United's attacking fire power as Spurs were dismantled.

Ronaldo proceeded to cooley dispatch the controversial penalty kick & also show that indeed "he cares"  when he continued to run back to the centre spot with ball under arm.

With the introduction of Tevez causing havoc, SAF threw Paul Scholes into the conflict & with United now looking lethal the onslaught began.

Using the ball wisely & almost holding it like metal to a magnet, Berbatov & Carlos Tevez linked brilliantly for the remainder of the game as they tore Spurs apart, after combining well, Tevez picked out Rooney wide left & dashing into the penalty area, Rooney shot through Corluka's legs beating Gomez for 2-2 a goal which sent Old Trafford wild & tears to my eyes.

With Tevez also showing he cares, and we already know, the Argie claimed the ball from Gomez as United were like a pack of hungry wolfs & a minutes later Rooney from the left send a ball into the box for Ronaldo to score with a diving header for 3-2.

Ronaldo then proceeded to throw his shirt almost onto the roof of the South stand before being inevitably booked for the stupid rule of removing the shirt.

More class play for Berbatov saw close control & a ball to Ronaldo on the right & with Rooney brilliantly peeling off the shoulder of Corluka & Tevez moving into space, the White Pele unmarked on the identical spot that Modric has sent his team 2-0 proceeded to put his team 4-2 up as the ball broke the goal line despite the efforts of Jonathan Woodgate.

Every single United player including EVDS came to share in the emotion of Rooney's & United's 4th goal & I myself personally had to be consoled by Mr Derek Randles (Editor: thanks Derek) who sits next to me as I had still failed to fight back the tears from 3-2.

With Spurs still in the Twilight Zone, Marcus Bent tried to steer the ship wreck with a close curling shot past EVDS's post & still not content with the massacre, Dimitar Berbatov deservedly & finally capped off what will be one of the most treasured Manchester United moments I have had the privilege to witness 1st hand as once again collectively, he Tevez & Rooney combined to score United's 5th.

A Robbie Keane effort was blocked by EVDS toward the end & Ronaldo almost claimed a hat trick when he was sent through by Berbatov before Howard Webb Spurs were put out of their misery & United marched on to Boro way, top of the league, with a game in hand.

I have now stopped crying!!
lets hope its only for a few weeks!!!.

How good were Tevez, Berbatov, Rooney & Ronaldo in the second half.
What's your opinion?.....HAVE YOU'RE SAY BELOW.
 

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