United Back Fight to Beat Fulham
By David Hobbs
October 1 2005
Manchester United were made to fight back from an early Collins John goal to win 3-2 against Fulham at Craven Cottage thanks to Ruud van Nistelrooy and Wayne Rooney.

United Back Fight to Beat Fulham

Fulham 2
Collins John 2
Claus Jensen 28

Manchester United 3
Ruud van Nistelrooy 17 (pen), 45
Wayne Rooney 18

Manchester United were made to fight back from an early Collins John goal to win 3-2 against Fulham at Craven Cottage thanks to Ruud van Nistelrooy and Wayne Rooney.

Fulham's opener through Collins John shook the Red Devils, who certainly showed critics they are not boring, but thrived off the pressure to pick up all 3 points.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Paul Scholes were rested following Tuesday's Champions League victory over Benfica, allowing Ji Sung Park to start for United.

Sir Alex Ferguson appeared to let his side play 4-4-2 after protests from the Old Trafford faithful demanding their side attack through their more comfortable formation.

Just two minutes into the game, United were rocked by a fine left-footed Collins John goal from the outside of the penalty area. However, United didn't panic and patiently let the game flow and rely on their quality to prevail.

Ji Sung Park, who looked incredibly energetic down the right-wing, racing into Fulham's penalty area looking to cause havoc but was fouled by Moritz Volz, leaving referee Howard Webb with no choice but to award the visitors a penalty.

Ruud van Nistelrooy converted the penalty with ease past the returning Mark Crossley in the Fulham goal.

This boosted United's confidence and let them play attacking football. Just one minute after van Nistelrooy's equalizer, Ji Sung Park teed up Wayne Rooney to fire United into the lead.

Fulham refused to be on the back foot and found themselves level again midway through the first half. Claus Jensen's looping free-kick evaded United's defence and then Edwin van der Sar, who was powerless to save.

Just before the half-time whistle, Ruud van Nistelrooy doubled his goalscoring tally for the afternoon by slamming home from the centre of the penalty area, once again courtesy of Ji Sung Park.

After a flurry of activity in the first-half, the game settled but was still wide-open.

Fulham searched for an equalizer late on and should have scored when Tomasz Radzinski crossed to fellow substitute Heidar Helguson, who failed to make anything out of golden chance from just yards out.

Radzinski himself went close soon after but Edwin van der Sar saved to hang on to a vital morale boosting win.

Final Score: Fulham 2 - 3 Manchester United
Att: 21,862

Fulham: M Crossley, M Volz, C Bocanegra, A Goma, N Jensen, S Malbranque, C Jensen, P Diop, L Boa Morte, B McBride (72 H Helguson) , C John (77 T Radzinski)

Manchester United: E Van der Sar, J O'Shea, R Ferdinand, M Silvestre, K Richardson (57 P Bardsley) , D Fletcher, A Smith, R Giggs (77 C Ronaldo) , W Rooney, R van Nistelrooy (84 P Scholes) , J Park

Refereed By: H Webb

View a Printer Friendly version of this Story.