Man United Play An Exciting Draw At Craven Cottage

Tuesday, 24 August 2010 02:09 Ankit Sharma

Manchester United couldnt break the jinx at Craven Cottage as they failed to win at the ground for third successive year. A 2-2 scoreline was the end result of a highly competitive match in which the pendulum kept swinging in favour of both sides at different points. iSporter Ankit Sharma reports.

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United started the match brightly with Berbatov and Hernandez producing good link-up play. Sir Alex handed Javier Hernandez and Ji-Sung Park their first starts of the season. Fulham's stand-in keeper, David Stockdale, produced an excellent save from Berbatov's acrobatic bicycle kick that looked destined to hit the back of the net. However, Stockdale could do nothing when Paul Scholes turned back the years and sent a scorching powerful drive in the bottom corner of the net. This was Scholes' 150^th goal for United.

The Fulham mid-field, comprising of Danny Murphy and Damien Duff, then started exerting control over the game. United's mid-field was struggling with both Darren Fletcher and Antonio Valencia having a bad day, while Park could do little with his limited creativity, passing range and lack of physical strength. United's defence was looking circumspect with Johny Evans struggling to keep up with the game. Van der Saar made a superb double save in the 31^st minute to keep Etuhu out.

Fulham finally struck in the 57^th minute as Simon Davies finished off an excellent move. With the game tightly poised, Sir Alex replaced Park, Valencia and Hernandez with Nani, Giggs and Owen. Nani immediately made an impact on the game with his pace and trickery. The pressure finally resulted in an own-goal from Hangeland and when United earned a penalty in the 86^th minute, the game looked all but over. However, Nani missed the penalty as Stockdale produced a fine save. Hangeland then redeemed himself by scoring at the right end with a towering header.

In the end, 2-2 scoreline was probably a fair reflection of the game. United would rue the penalty miss but it was the inefficient defending of John O'Shea and the limited penetration of Ji-Sung Park that resulted in a weak mid-field and a tattered defence. With Chelsea and Arsenal hitting six goals each in their respective matches, Sir Alex would be hoping for a quick return to fitness of Rio Ferdinand and return to form of Wayne Rooney. The title race has already started!