Adam Dennehey WAFU manager
Manchester United marked the eve of Sir Alex Ferguson’s 25th anniversary in charge of the club, by grinding out a win over one of the great Scot’s former club captains Steve Bruce’s Sunderland team at Old Trafford.
Before the game all the attention was rightfully given the circumstances on Sir Alex. Not only was the master of British football given a guard of honour by both sets of teams before walking onto the hallowed Old Trafford pitch, but the club announced two glowing tributes as well.
The first of those announcements was the renaming of Old Trafford’s North Stand to become the Sir Alex Ferguson Stand in honour of the great man as well as the news that from next season a statue with the second being the news that there will be a statue of Sir Alex outside the ground from next season.
On days like these, big games are put on an even grander scale and there’s no doubt that for Sir Alex it was just another game. Sadly for Sunderland the game started on a sour note when their bright young striker Connor Wickham went down injured after twisting his ankle in an off-the-ball incident inside the first minute.
It was a major blow for the young striker who had come into this game confident after scoring his first goal for the visitors last weekend after signing from Ipswich in the summer. Korean forward Ji Dong-Won was brought onto replace the youngster. Sunderland overcame that blow by having the game’s first effort on goal which saw Anders Lindegaard – who was starting ahead of David De Gea in goal – dealing well with a Nicklas Bendter shot.
Bruce was out to ruin Sir Alex’s big-day and his team were working hard to frustrate United who incredibly had to wait until just after the half-hour mark to muster a shot on goal as Wayne Rooney struck a shot straight at Keiren Westwood in the Sunderland goal. Old Trafford was screaming for a penalty shortly after but referee Lee Mason correctly decided that Sebastian Larsson’s challenge on Javier Hernandez in the box was a fair and valid one to make.
Phil Jones was looking sharp and almost scored his first United goal when he struck a powerful volley just over the bar from around 20 yards out that would have had Westwood scrambling to save. Nani then linked up with the former Blackburn player before striking a powerful shot to the Irish keeper’s right which was well saved.
From the resulting corner by the Portuguese winger in first-half injury time, United took the lead with the ball going in off former-Red Wes Brown as the experienced defender was trying his best to prevent Danny Welbeck from heading the ball in. Whilst it was a moment of bad luck for Bruce, it was one that Untied were happy to accept as they gratefully took a lead into half-time.
Spurred on by what no doubt was another one of Sir Alex’s most important team talks, United came out playing better football causing Sunderland problems. First Nani blasted a long range free-kick just wide of Westwood’s near post before Hernandez was denied doubling United’s lead when his shot was hacked of the line by another former-Red Kieran Richardson.
Old Trafford then gasped 22 minutes from time when it looked as if Mason had awarded Sunderland a penalty when Larrson’s cross into the area fell to Ji Dong-Won in the area. The Korean had got in between Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic and had controlled the ball with his hand in bringing the ball down. Mason blew his whistle but just as it looked as if he would award a penalty, he consulted with his assistant on the far-side who rightfully pointed out the hand-ball and United won a free-kick instead.
United were unfortunate not to double the lead in the closing stages but Westwood to his credit did well to keep out a Rooney drive before scooping Patrice Evra’s shot on the rebound over the bar. Sunderland’s best chance of an equaliser came when Bentdner couldn’t quite meet Larrson’s cross that was whipped into the six-yard box.
In the end though it was a good win and one that United deserved. That’s two 1-0’s on the trot now in the Premier League and after the horror-show that was the Manchester Derby, there’s no doubt that Sir Alex – the man of the hour – will have no trouble telling his team that he will be happy with his side grinding out wins, after all that’s a sign of Champions isn’t it?
United: Lindegaard, Evra, Ferdinand, Vidic, Jones, Nani, Fletcher (Fabio), Rooney, Park (Carrick), Wellbeck (Berbatov), Hernandez
Star Man
Whilst all the attention was on his manager, Phil Jones again stood out as a player for the present not just for the future with another outstanding display. Already three months into the season he looks to be one of the club’s first choice defenders on merit and scarily looks as good going forward as he does at the back. He looks like a future club captain already.
By Adam Dennehey @ADennehey87
