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O I L E R S P A C E Utd (1) 2 - Scholes 39, Forlan 92 Chelsea (1) 1 - Gudjohnsen 31 Attendance: 67,606 Team (4-4-1-1): Barthez; Gary Nev, Brown, Rio, Mikky (Veron 85); Beckham, Keane, Utility Nev (Giggs 46), Ole; Schores-goales; RVN (Forlan 70). Bench: Carroll, JSV, Giggs, Diegoal, O'Shea Nicky's not being risked despite his goalscoring streak in the reserves... Game highlights (culled from manutd.com matchtracker and sporting liff): 12min - Chelsea settlng the better of the two teams. Utd "lacking their usual fluidity". No shots on goal yet but Le Saux's had four corners to Utd's none. 16min - Utility Nev's put Hasselbaink out of the game with a solid tackle (happened some min earlier). Zola has replaced him. Phil's been putting himself about apparently. 20min - Sporting Liff; "Utd are failing to get going as an attacking force". Ruud only just caught offside. 22min - Utd penalty appeal turned down. Beckham cross hit Babayaro on the arm. 25min - First shot on target and it's Chelsea. Le Saux's long low drive well stopped by the Fab one to his left. 30min - Great 25yard strike from Petit goes just wide. A min or so later it's a goal by Gudjohnsen where he flicks the ball over Fab. Throughball by Petit to split Utd's def open. 34min - "Chelsea's football is neat and they continue to deny United space. The hosts have still to muster a single shot on goal." Giggs warming up on sideline to ovation (no sign of seagull flapping at that). Ole's operating too far forward according to the guy on the matchtracker -- and Chelsea's taking advantage of that. Chelsea fans finding their voices. 39min - GOAL for Utd: excellent Becks cross is met by a Scho(res-goa)les "thunderous" header to put it past Cudicini from inside the six-yard box. Couple of min later he crosses again for Ruud but only for the dutchman to get the offside flag. Utd now on top and finding their passes. Utd fans finding their voices. HT - "Chelsea had the better of it but United proved how dangerous they are by scoring with their only effort on goal. The game is in the balance at 1-1". Here's hoping Utd's 2002/03 record of storming second-halves comes into play -- we've scored twice as many goals in the 2nd half this season?. HT Stats - not all that flash (Utd-Chel): Total shots: 1 - 3 Shots on goal: 1 - 2 Corners: 0 - 5 Free kicks: 8 - 7 Offsides: 3 - 4 2nd - Giggsy on for UtilityNev. Scholes rops back to central mid and Ole moves up front with Ruud. Can't tell if it's the old twin strikers or the recent one up/one deep in the pocket role. 51min - Utd's first corner: result is that Ole bounces the ball off their post... couple of min later Scholes has a great effort deflected wide + we also get two corners in quick succession and denied a penalty again off the second with a Desailly block. 55min - Chel sub; de Lucas on for Gronkjaer. 58min - Nice one-two betwixt him and Scholes, but Ruud volleys it well wide and over. Melchiot also then stops him in a run on goal in the 62nd min. 63min - Becks shoots from 45 yards but a tame effort. DeLucas long range shot narrowly grazes the corner flag... Period that follows is a good one for Chelsea as they gain some ascendancy. Couple of shots from them with Gudjohnsen skipping a few tackles on the edge of the box on one occasion. 70min - Another good Becks cross for Ruud but his header gets tipped around the post by Cudicini's "sensational" save. Diegoal then comes on in a straight swap for Ruud. Now Utd has the upper hand and are pushing forward a bit more. 74min - A Forlan left footed shot is tipped wide. Resultant cross sees ball fly across face of goal without getting the vital touch. "Chelsea riding their luck at the moment". Shots on goal now 7 apiece. Scholes is everywhere, and Giggs doing well since he came on, but strangely hardly any mention of Keano on the tracker... 80min - ...until now; he dribbles the ball into their box but slashes a left foot shot wide. 83min - Chelsea sub; Zenden on for Gudjohnsen -- trying to regain the width they lost with Gronkjaer going off?. Zola misses chance for Chelsea -- couldn't control a cross. 2mi later it's a Utd subst: Veron on for Mikky; which means three at the back for Utd and maybe Scholes pushed forward again (3-4-1-2)? 90min - There's to be 3min of added time. Very scrappy play late on. Ole caught offside in the box. 92min - DIEGOAL! Everyone's favourite Uruguayan does it again. Keane won the ball, slipped it to JSV, who clips a great ball into the box and Forlan volleys emphatically past Cudicini. The ABUs will be spitting tacks again. FT - And the crowd (95% of the 67,606 at least) goes wild... FT stats - show a bit of a comeback by Utd (Utd-Chel): Total shots: 9 - 8 Shots on goal: 6 - 4 Corners: 6 - 6 Free kicks: 15 - 12 Offsides: 4 - 6 *************************************** Reply to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe to the list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe from the list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
