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| February 10, 2003 | Monday | Zul Hijjah 8,1423 |
Goater back to haunt Man United
MANCHESTER, Feb 9: Shaun Goater returned to upset Manchester United’s plans for the second time this season when he scored with his first touch to deny Alex Ferguson’s side the three points which would have taken them joint top.
Goater scored twice in Manchester City’s premier league 3-1 win at Maine Road in November and he beat Roy Carroll with a late header to cancel out Ruud van Nistelrooy’s early goal in the 1-1 draw at Old Trafford on Sunday.
It was a stunning blow to United who had been counting on a victory to erase the memories of the earlier derby defeat as well as lifting them to 56 points — the same tally as Arsenal before their game at Newcastle later on Sunday.
Goater nearly grabbed City’s first league double over United for 33 years in injury time but the referee ruled out his goal for an earlier handball against Nicolas Anelka.
City’s win in November was their first over their Manchester rivals in 17 league and cup clashes and few expected them to halt a United side again that had steamrollered their way to 10 wins in their last 12 premier league games.
The record books were also against the Blues. Their last win at Old Trafford was in 1974 when Denis Law’s goal sent his former club to a defeat that brought relegation from the top division.
Kevin Keegan’s side were dealt a blow when former United keeper Peter Schmeichel was forced to pull out of the game after suffering a recurrence of his calf injury in the pre-match warm-up and Carlo Nash took over in goal.
Ryan Giggs was first to test the stand-in keeper with a shot from the edge of the area following a quick break involving David Beckham and Juan Sebastian Veron.
It seemed inevitable that United took the lead in the 18th minute with a crisp move that cut open the visiting defence.
Roy Keane was given too much time in midfield to pick out Giggs’s break down the left and the winger delivered a low ball across the face of goal.
Van Nistelrooy arrived at the far post to sidefoot past Nash for his eighth goal in United’s last nine matches.
Within two minutes, United claimed a penalty when David Beckham fell under the challenge of City’s French defender David Summeil as he ran to the by-line but the ref only gave a corner.
City enjoyed plenty of space with Eyal Berkovic and Anelka allowed to run at United but they lacked the invention required to unlock a home defence that has conceded 24 goals this season — the lowest in the premier league.
Nash was forced to make an unorthodox save in the 44th minute to push away a Beckham cross that was floating over his head and dropping into the net.
It also needed a fantastic tackle by Sylvain Distin to deny van Nistelrooy a second goal in the 55th minute after a delightful through-ball from Beckham.
That sparked the game back into life with Berkovic and Fowler linking well to hand Marc-Viven Foe a shooting chance.
His effort was blocked but looped up and was dropping into the net until Carroll scrambled back and clawed the ball away.
City dominated for long periods in the second half and sub Shaun Wright-Phillips should have scored when Carroll wandered too far off his line but the England under-21 cap guided his attempted lob wide.
United appeared to take their foot off the pedal as City took control and apart from one dash off his line to deny Giggs, Nash was quiet in the visitor’s goal.
Sure enough, it was City who snatched an equaliser with two substitutes playing a part immediately after being introduced by Keegan.
Sub Ali Benarbia’s 86th minute free-kick was played short for Wright-Phillips to cross and Goater headed past a stationary Carroll.
The visitors nearly claimed an unlikely win at the death with Foe’s deflected cross hitting the bar before Goater’s disallowed goal, but even a point was celebrated as a victory by Keegan’s men at the final whistle.—Reuters
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