The Reds light up Reading

Three goals in the first ten minutes, steered Manchester United past Reading and into the quarter-finals of the FA Cup.
Heinze, Saha and Ole all scored for United in an electric opening spell that put the game out of Readings reach. Reading got a couple back, but United always had control.

9 CLEAR !!!

A late Ronaldo goal gave Manchester United victory over a brave Fulham team. The 2-1 win pushed United nine points clear of Chelsea, who play a Cup match against Arsenal this weekend.

A defensive blunder in the first half saw Fulham take the early lead, but Giggs, who was on fire the whole game, equalised before the break and Ronaldo raced down the field and blasted home the winner with just three minutes left.

At the Cottage

After the victory over Lille during the week, Manchester United now venture to London once more to play Fulham at Craven Cottage.

The match is on digital, Sky Sport 2 at 1.40 am, Sunday morning.

Man Utd NZ Supporters Club Meeting

The Manchester United FC New Zealand Supporters Club will be having their monthly meeting this Wednesday at the Speakers Corner in Browns Bay.

The Speakers has great British ale and excellent food, good parking and a welcoming family atmosphere. So come down and have a chat about the Reds, a few pints and meet the crew. Kick off about 7.30 pm.

ALL WELCOME

Sucked in by the old 2nd eleven trick.

Make the enemy think you are weak, when you are in fact strong, Sun Tzu, in the "Art of War". M

United were held to a hard fought draw at Old Trafford as Reading's sensational season continued thanks to Brynjar Gunnarsson’s second-half header, which earned his side an FA Cup fifth-round replay.
But, for their tenacity alone, Steve Coppell’s men deserved another crack at the Red Devils. When the teams were announced, Coppell brought seven new faces into his starting line-up, Ferguson was not that far behind him with six.
Tuesday’s Champions League trip to Lille offered an obvious reason for Ferguson’s decision but it still did not do much to enhance the status of a competition United have won a record 11 times.
Too often, promising attacks came to an end in disappointing fashion. On three separate occasions, Park Ji-Sung was found wanting.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer wasted United’s best chance of the opening stages when Andre Bikey failed to cut out Carrick’s low cross. The Norwegian seemed surprised when the ball rolled through to him and merely allowed it to bounce off him, giving Adam Federici the chance to save. Federici had no chance of winning his next one-on-one duel with Solskjaer, who controlled instantly, then drilled through the Reading goalkeeper’s legs after Bikey’s clearance had looped towards him off Park.
Unfortunately for United, an offside flag had been raised when TV replays indicated Solskjaer was level with Bikey.
Had Reading held out until the break, referee Graham Poll could have expected to hear a few choice words from the United camp. As it was, Carrick had put them in front, so all was well.
Having embarked on the latest in a series of blistering forward bursts, Ronaldo seemed to have run into a dead end, so simply laid the ball off to Carrick.
With only one goal to his name, Carrick is hardly a sharp-shooter. But his 25-yard strike, which arrowed into the bottom corner, must have drawn admiring glances from all United’s illustrious forward contingent.
Ronaldo was still keen to make a more meaningful contribution though and had Federici panicking when he controlled Darren Fletcher’s angled ball on his chest, then volleyed towards the Reading goal as he fell. However, for once in this stunning season, the winger left his shooting boots at home. And, after two misses, the first of which was an obvious chance after Park had sent him clean through, United were made to pay for his wastefulness.

Serious question marks will be asked of Saha after he left Gunnarsson with a free run onto John Oster’s corner. The finish was as close to perfect as it was possible to be as the Icelander’s header bounced in off the underside of the bar.
Ferguson immediately introduced Paul Scholes, Henrik Larsson and Patrice Evra to set up a frenzied finish. Larsson went close at one end, Reading substitute Stephen Hunt at the other. But, when Saha failed to convert United’s final opportunity late on, Reading were able to celebrate another famous mini-triumph on what is turning into the finest season in their history.

Simon Stone, Manchester Online. abridged

Andrei retires

Probably the greatest winger to play for United since George, Andrei Kanchelskis has finally retired. The speed and dribbling skills of Andrei were amazing, he didn't just take you on, he devastated you. One of the few players I would been HAPPY to pay to watch him play anytime... Marc


The 38 year old, who was spent the twilight of his career in his homeland with Saturn moscow and Krylia Sovetov, was released by his club Samara at the end of the 2006 campaign and has now decided to hang up his boots.
“You need to leave at the right time,” he told a national newspaper.
“Now seems a suitable moment to begin a new chapter in my footballing life,” added Kanchelskis, who will be deciding his plans in the coming weeks.
During his time at Old Trafford, the flying winger won two Premierships titles and an FA Cup before leaving to join Everton in 1995.
He had further spells at Fiorentina, Rangers, Manchester City, Southampton and in Saudi Arabia, before returning to Russia in 2004.
Despite being born in Ukraine, Kanchelskis opted to play for Russia following the fall of the Soviet Union, winning 36 caps and scoring 5 goals.

story from Manchester Online

Still six clear !

In a much harder match than reflected by the score, Manchester United defeated Charlton by two goals to nil.

Charlton at Old Trafford

Manchester United face the might of Charlton at home this weekend, no television coverage.


Time for the MUFCNZ Sunday football players to loosen up and go find their boots, as the practice weekends approach.

England

Don't forget England vs Spain on tomorrow morning (Thursday), ESPN at 9 am.
Just a friendly being played at Old Trafford.

United Victorious

After a frentic first half of football, end to end with two certain penalties and one maybe, Ronaldo converting the dubious one, Manchester United exploded in the second half with two cracking goals in ten minutes. The first, a perfect header by Vidic from a corner and the second a Paul Scholes double take after a Ronaldo run down the right and precision cross in to the area. Later, Saha laid on a perfect thru ball for Giggs, who finished with style to make it four. Then the only sour note, with Van de man getting a knee in the face from Keane, it was deliberate in my book. So we ended up playing the last ten minutes with O'Shea in goal, with some very interesting plays to finish the game.
At last a victory in the capital, a great boost to the goal difference and restoration of the six point margin over Chelski.

Off to London again

United travel to London this weekend to play Spurs at home.

The game is on digital at 4.55 am, Monday morning.

Reds cut loose

Manchester United delivered on all fronts this morning with a wonderful four - nil thrashing of Watford.
United roused themselves after a lethargic start to eventually romp home and maintain their six-point advantage, extending their goal difference advantage over Chelsea to 14 in the process.
After Cristiano Ronaldo had slammed the hosts in front with his 14th goal of the season and Lloyd Doyley had doubled their lead with an unfortunate own goal, Henrik Larsson and Wayne Rooney also found the target as United recorded their biggest win since a similar sized success at Bolton three months ago.
With Ronaldo and Rooney - both restored to Ferguson’s starting line-up - growing in influence, so the Reds started to carve out an increasing number of chances. Vidic was not far off with two headers from Michael Carrick corners and Richardson saw his shot flash onto the roof of Watford’s net.
The hosts maintained their focus after the break too, with Rooney and Ronaldo both going close before Richardson curled over the cross which Doyley, with Ronaldo breathing down his neck, stuck out his head to nod into his own net. To all intents and purposes, it was game over. But United, mindful of how close the title battle could turn out to be, went for the jugular.
Five minutes after his introduction for Solskjaer, Larsson laid off a pass to Rooney, then sped onto a clinical through ball from the England man before rolling a shot into the corner.
United bagged another with their next attack, a product of an outrageous double act between Ronaldo and Rooney. The Portugal man started it with a searing run across the visitors’ box, then amazingly chipping the ball over Watford’s startled defence to Rooney, who promptly launched his shot high over Lee before watching it drop into the goal.
Wes Brown replaced Carrick in central midfield and some of the fire went out of United’s play after that, although only the base of a post denied a Ronaldo shot which would have completed their biggest win of the campaign.