Manchester United became only the third visiting team to win in the league this season at the SOL beating Sunderland 1 – 0 thanks to Nani’s first half strike. It was a spirited if somewhat disappointing performance by the lads in the final home game of the season as they never looked like helping Chelsea to the Premiership crown.

We lined up with Gordon in goal behind a back four of Bardsley, Turner, Mensah and Richardson. In midfield Malbranque, Cana, Meyler and Henderson with Bent and Campbell up front.

The game started fairly evenly with Sunderland closing down Man U’s midfield at every opportunity through the tenacious Meyler and Cana. Despite this United created the first good chance of the game when Rooney’s effort was palmed away by Craig Gordon into the path of Ryan Giggs. The Welshman struck the ball goalwards only to be denied by a last ditch block by Phil Bardsley.

Our first effort on goal came from a corner delivered by Jordan Henderson but the youngster’s cross was headed over by John Mensah. Mensah rose well and looked to power the header goalwards only to see it loop over the bar, I joked to my mate that he probably injured himself and sadly I was right as it wasn’t long before he was replaced by Matt Kilgallon.

Ryan Giggs went close to opening the scoring with a powerful shot from the left wing but the shot which looked destined for the top corner clipped the bar with Craig Gordon beaten. Manchester United eventually took the lead when a cross from the left fell to Nani who slotted into the bottom corner past Gordon. It was a good finish by the Portuguese winger it was just a shame he spent the rest of the game rolling around like someone had taken a sledgehammer to his legs every time he got tackled.

Our best effort of the first half and probably the game came when Malbranque carried the ball centrally through the midfield and shot from about twenty five yards. The midfielders looping effort looked to be dropping into the top corner but Van Der Sar made a good save diving to his right.

Before half time David Meyler who was playing well in the engine room went off with what looked like a serious injury. He had thundered into a tackle with Patrice Evra but had to leave the field on a stretcher to be replaced by Lee Cattermole.

After the break Manchester United’s class started to tell and they would have been out of sight had it not been for the misfiring Berbatov. The Bulgarian missed two glorious chances, the first was created by Rooney who crossed the ball into the six yard box only for Berbatov to somehow fire over when it looked impossible to miss. The second came when Giggs cross beat Gordon but Berbatov managed to head his effort off Kieran Richardson who was on the line. We had an appeal for a penalty turned down when Bardsley went down after overlapping past Giggs but Steve Bennett booked the defender for diving and I was too far away to see whether there was contact.

Craig Gordon did well soon after to deny Nani when the winger went through in a similar position to his goal against Spurs last Saturday. Nani went for the same chip finish but Gordon stayed big and diverting the ball away with his chest. Then Michael Turner did well to block Michael Carrick’s low shot on the line, then Wayne Rooney blasted a volley just wide of the post.

Though Sunderland continued to be committed we never created much second half and with twenty minutes to go Kenwyne Jones replaced Jordan Henderson. If anyone was going to create a chance in a red and white shirt it was Steed Malbranque but even he came up short this afternoon. We also missed Alan Hutton at right back as although Bardsley did ok there was a few occasions late in the second half when the midfield looked to switch the play from left to right and Bardsley was on the half way line where Hutton would have been more advanced. Our best efforts in the second half if you can call them that came from Cattermole who blasted a volley wide and Campbell whose acrobatic overhead kick lopped wide.

Final Score: Sunderland 0 Manchester United 1

ALS Man of the Match: Michael Turner

Aidan Crowe

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