Newcastle United hold Manchester United to a barren draw at home in the Barclay Premier League
The vociferous 49,025 fans at St James Park were treated to some exciting football from their beloved team against a stubborn Manchester United still reeling from their FA Cup expulsion by Manchester City a few days ago. The game started at a brisk pace with both teams looking for early starts.
The best chance of the opening minutes fell to the feet of Mexican striker Javier Hernández who was unable to finish off a deep pass from his strike partner Wayne Rooney. He was later issued a yellow card for diving. There were cries of penalty from the red players, but the television replay showed that Chichirito was trying to circumvent the rules by diving without any apparent contact. Referee Lee Probert was not fooled as he was clearly closed to the action and saw the incident.
It was a match in which there were few chances on either side of the pitch, but in the 69th minute of play, veteran winger Ryan Giggs had the best chance of the entire match after receiving a beautiful retirement from Manchester United’s left-back. Patrick Eve.
He lobbed the ball over the crossbar with goalkeeper Tim Krul, who was substituting for the injured Steve Haper, clearly beaten. Sir Alex Ferguson was left fuming because his time was running out. Had Ryan Giggs scored that goal, Manchester United would have walked away nine goals clear at the top of the Barclay Premier League with the title in glorious sight.
Newcastle United Shola Ameobi, Jonas Gutierrez and midfielder Chiek Ismael Tiote had an attempted goal saved by goalkeeper Edwin Van Der Sar who was caught between the posts. United were lucky not to concede a goal when debutant Stephen Ireland fired a volley in the second half that did not produce the desired result.
Both sides eventually settled for one point each when all attempts to snatch the three points up for grabs proved futile. It was a match in which Newcastle United desperately needed a positive result to further cement their place in the Premier League, while United would have been 80% certain of lifting the trophy a record 19 times.
The game saw the return of Wayne Rooney, who had served a two-match ban for using on camera after their win against West Ham United two weeks ago. The Reds were clearly missing the services of their Bulgarian international Dimitar Berbatov, who was missing from Sir Alex’s roster due to illness. However, they are the favorites to clinch the League trophy based on their current form.