Manchester United scored two goals in four minutes to draw 2-2 with Aston Villa, who looked certain to win their second game against the Club in 29 previous attempts on Saturday.
The day’s early kick-off in the Barclay’s Premier League between Aston Villa and Manchester United at Villa Park was a potential cracker. United would have fancied nothing better than a win and narrow the gap between them and league-leaders Chelsea to just
one point before the Blues played their game on Sunday. A win for Aston Villa would have meant a welcome relief from their run of wretched results, barring the win against Blackpool in mid-week, and would have propelled them to 5th spot in the Barclay’s
Premier League table.
The first half then was a bit of an anti-climax. The game started off a bit slowly, with both teams seeming a little off the pace. The best chance of the half fell to United’s Berbatov in the 16th minute of the game, but all he could do was to
scuff his shot wide. United had another chance with Brown latching onto Nani’s free kick, but once again the opportunity was lost. Villa with their young midfield were looking increasingly threatening, and were easily outpacing United at every opportunity
they got, their best two chances fell to the brilliant Ashley Young and Stewart Downing both of whom failed to score.
At the start of the second half, Nani elbowed Warnock in the face quite deliberately, a tackle which should have resulted in a straight red for the winger, but United fans would have been relieved to see that all he got was a yellow.
Villa were quite quick out of the blocks in the second half and started creating chances from the outset. Catching United on the break, Downing who was in instrumental form on the left hand side of the inexperienced Villa midfield curled in a tremendous
ball only for Marc Albrighton to head it wide off the far post. Villa were again very unlucky not to go 1-0 up in the 67th minute when center half James Collins crashed his header from a Downing cross onto the cross bar, with Van der Sar looking
utterly helpless.
United were looking even more vulnerable in the second half than they did in the first against a fluid Villa, and another chance wasn’t far away, when at the end of a neat one-two with Ashley Young, Gabriel Agbonlahor rattled the woodwork just as Collins
had done a few minutes before, with Van der Sar again beaten.
With United caught on the break again, Agbonlahor, who was a constant menace for the Red Devils’ curled in a ball for Ashley Young who was brought to ground inside the box by Wes Brown, and referee Mike Dean had no choice but to grant Villa a penalty. Ashley
Young stepped up to take the spot kick, and scored for Villa, sending the whole of Villa Park into raptures. Not long after that the three best players for Villa, Downing, Young and Albrighton combined to double Villa’s lead, as Young’s through ball freed
Downing down the left who in turn played a fabulous ball in for Albrighton to finish with a maturity that seemed far beyond his years.
United looked down for the count after the two goals which had been coming for some time, but then Ferguson did what he does best in affecting a masterful substitution.
Macheda who had been on the pitch for just a few minutes pulled United back into the match, sending a rocket of a shot into the top of the Villa net from just outside the box. A rejuvenated United then started exerting some serious pressure and Villa’s inexperienced
team finally bowed to it, with Vidic getting on the end of a glorious ball by Nani to head in at the back post to bring United back to parity and that’s how the match finished.
Without playing particularly well, United still managed to get a point out of the game, with their never-say-die spirit. Villa although they threw away a two-goal lead can be proud of the efforts of their young and inexperienced team, many of whose players
look like stars of the future.
Tags: