| . | . | . |
Manchester United 2-0 Sheffield United
Tuesday 18th April 2007
Old Trafford, Manchester
Manchester United opened-up a six-point advantage over rivals Chelsea at the Premiership summit with a comfortable win against Sheffield United.
United were without groin injury victim Rio Ferdinand and goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar, who suffered a heavy blow to the nose in the FA Cup semi-final win against Watford. It made little difference to their early rhythm as they took the lead.
Ronaldo, inevitably, was the prime mover in the build-up to the goal, slipping in a perfect pass for Carrick to beat Kenny as he ran out. Rooney could have doubled United's lead two minutes later but Kenny bravely blocked the effort from point-blank range.
United's defensive resources, already stretched to breaking point by injuries, suffered another casualty after 19 minutes when Patrice Evra limped off following a wild challenge by Colin Kazim-Richards.
Rooney was involved in some unnecessary incidents and he picked up a yellow card for a reckless tackle on Phil Jagielka. But he showed the other side of his character with a goal of quite stunning quality five minutes after the break. He controlled a pass of rare vision from Ryan Giggs in an instant before lashing an unstoppable right-foot finish across Kenny.
Sheffield United's main threat came from the lively Luton Shelton but he wasted a glorious chance to quickly peg back United, shooting over from only 10 yards. United then attempted to press home their advantage, with Kenny saving well in quick succession from Ronaldo and Giggs.
The Premiership pace-setters then had an escape with the sort of generous decision that would have reduced Sir Alex Ferguson to a seething rage had it happened at the other end. Shelton showed lightning pace to escape the United regard again before being clearly fouled by Gabriel Heinze - only for referee Rob Styles to wave play on when a spot-kick looked a formality.
Man Utd: Kuszczak, Fletcher, Brown, Heinze, Evra (Richardson 21), Ronaldo, Carrick, Scholes, Rooney, Giggs (Solskjaer 80), Smith.
Subs Not Used: Van der Sar, O'Shea, Cathcart.
Booked: Smith, Rooney, Ronaldo.
Goals: Carrick 4, Rooney 50.
Sheff Utd: Kenny, Geary, Morgan, Kozluk (Armstrong 77), Kilgallon, Jagielka, Webber, Montgomery, Tonge, Kazim-Richards (Gillespie 75), Shelton (Nade 89).
Subs Not Used: Alan Quinn, Fathi.
Booked: Geary, Morgan, Armstrong.
Att: 75,540.
Ref: R Styles (Hampshire).
. | . |
|
Warning: include() [function.include]: URL file-access is disabled in the server configuration in /usr/www/users/isport/michaelcarrick/reports/06Sheffieldhome.php on line 135
Warning: include(http://www.michaelcarrick.net/carrickfooter.php) [function.include]: failed to open stream: no suitable wrapper could be found in /usr/www/users/isport/michaelcarrick/reports/06Sheffieldhome.php on line 135
Warning: include() [function.include]: Failed opening 'http://www.michaelcarrick.net/carrickfooter.php' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/local/lib/php') in /usr/www/users/isport/michaelcarrick/reports/06Sheffieldhome.php on line 135
|
