Scholes' late header clinches United win at City
Monday, 19 April 2010
MANCHESTER, England, Apr 18 (AP): Manchester United veteran Paul Scholes headed in a stoppage-time goal Saturday to clinch a 1-0 victory over Manchester City and revive the team's hopes of winning an unprecedented fourth straight Premier League title.
With three matches to go, Man United is only a point behind Chelsea after the leaders lost 2-1 at Tottenham.
"It's a big result for us," Scholes said. "Obviously Chelsea are still in a strong position, but we've done all we can here today to keep the pressure on them."
The 35-year-old Scholes, who signed a season-long contract extension during the week, settled a drab 142nd Manchester derby with 12 seconds to go when he nodded in Patrice Evra's cross.
"We deserved to win the match, no question, but I couldn't see a goal coming," United manager Alex Ferguson said. "I decided to put Scholes a bit further forward and it paid off. He was man-of-the-match today. He was wonderful, he's such a skillful player."
While Chelsea's loss helped Ferguson's side, it hit City's hopes of capturing the fourth Champions League place. Tottenham moved two points past Roberto Mancini's team into fourth place. Spurs travel to United on Saturday.
As Ferguson had said amid the pre-match hype, this turned out to be a disappointing game. It lacked the explosiveness of January's League Cup semifinal encounters and, given their respective league positions, more urgency and was expected from the fierce rivals.
The form going into the match had pointed to a City victory, which would have helped the league's big-spenders finally qualify for the Champions League and convince more top players to join them.
While United had failed to win its past two matches-City had won its past two, scoring 11 goals in the process.
Wayne Rooney was back leading the United attack after missing two league matches due to an ankle injury, but he still looked to be struggling for fitness.
The England forward should have scored his 35th goal of the season in the 41st minute. After latching onto Antonio Valencia’s header, Rooney took the ball past City defender Kolo Toure only to miss the target with his shot.
With three matches to go, Man United is only a point behind Chelsea after the leaders lost 2-1 at Tottenham.
"It's a big result for us," Scholes said. "Obviously Chelsea are still in a strong position, but we've done all we can here today to keep the pressure on them."
The 35-year-old Scholes, who signed a season-long contract extension during the week, settled a drab 142nd Manchester derby with 12 seconds to go when he nodded in Patrice Evra's cross.
"We deserved to win the match, no question, but I couldn't see a goal coming," United manager Alex Ferguson said. "I decided to put Scholes a bit further forward and it paid off. He was man-of-the-match today. He was wonderful, he's such a skillful player."
While Chelsea's loss helped Ferguson's side, it hit City's hopes of capturing the fourth Champions League place. Tottenham moved two points past Roberto Mancini's team into fourth place. Spurs travel to United on Saturday.
As Ferguson had said amid the pre-match hype, this turned out to be a disappointing game. It lacked the explosiveness of January's League Cup semifinal encounters and, given their respective league positions, more urgency and was expected from the fierce rivals.
The form going into the match had pointed to a City victory, which would have helped the league's big-spenders finally qualify for the Champions League and convince more top players to join them.
While United had failed to win its past two matches-City had won its past two, scoring 11 goals in the process.
Wayne Rooney was back leading the United attack after missing two league matches due to an ankle injury, but he still looked to be struggling for fitness.
The England forward should have scored his 35th goal of the season in the 41st minute. After latching onto Antonio Valencia’s header, Rooney took the ball past City defender Kolo Toure only to miss the target with his shot.