Manchester United once again let a lead slip late in the game and dropped 2 points in the Premier League. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Dimitar-Berbatov-c11254 had given United the lead in the 2nd half, but a lacklustre display from the away team’s defence, and determination from
Birmingham, led to http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Lee-Bowyer-c21864 getting the equaliser for home team.
Sir Alex Ferguson was expecting to get all 3 points, but a single point still took his team to the top of the Premier League Table. United are level on 35 points with Manchester City but are ahead on goal difference and have also played 2 games less.
The Red Devils took the lead when Dimitar Berbatov, with plenty of support from Darren Gibson, managed to slip the ball past http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Ben-Foster-c7445 to get the opening goal. As United began to get into their stride, Berba also hit the goal post a couple of minutes after
scoring the goal.
Late in the game, a cross was sent into United’s box; the ball looked to have come off Nikola Zigic’s arm but the referee didn’t think so, and Bowyer pounced on to get the goal.
The point means that Birmingham have now moved out of the relegation zone and are level on points with Fulham and Wigan but have a better goal difference.
Long after the final whistle, Manchester United continued to contest the goal- in their support, there were a number of things wrong with the goal; first of all, Zigic appeared to have handled the ball when it came to him, and even before he got to the ball
he did climb on top of Manchester United defender http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Rio-Ferdinand-c31173. The climb on Rio in itself was a clear foul but still the referee decided to look the other way, and finally when Lee Bowyer got to the ball to slide it home, he was clearly ahead of the final
defender. So it clearly was off side and the goal should not have stood, but as it stands, Manchester United were in the end robbed of 2 points. Birmingham, however, deserve full credit for playing to the referee’s whistle and that is what the rules state.
This was the 8th away games for Manchester United this season, and still they have just one win from their travels. This was the 7th draw for them away from home and they have managed to win just one game so far.
Manchester United went into the game looking to get back on the top spot, as their city rivals Manchester City had overtaken them after the big win against Aston Villa earlier in the day.
Manchester United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, said after the match that he was not at all happy with losing 2 points, but still lauded the performance of his team. The manager said that once again the result takes them back to the start of the season, where
his team missed a number of chances and got numerous draws. Ferguson said that despite the legality of the Birmingham goal, United should have sealed the match long ago and should not have been susceptible to such late goals. While commenting on the form of
Berbatov, United boss said that he was delighted with the number of goals he has been scoring. He added that more support needs to come from other players if his team is to go on and win the league this season.
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