By Andy Morgan
May 2 2006

The first serious attack took place in the ninth minute when Gary Neville found himself in loads of space on the right and cut into the penalty area, passing to Saha. He went down, looking for a penalty that was not bought by the referee.

MANCHESTER UNITED v MIDDLESBROUGH, PREMIER LEAGUE, 1st MAY 2006

Due to Middlesbrough’s density of fixtures, Steve McClaren made nine changes to the side that lost 1-0 against Everton on Saturday. Only Jones and Morrison retained their places in the starting line-up, with Saturday’s substitutes Cattermole and Bates graduating from the bench to the first team.

Boro adopted a 4-5-1 formation with Massimo Maccarone alone up-front in the hope that this would be the winning formula that would allow Boro’s excellent Premiership record at Old Trafford to continue. However it would be difficult as none of our three main strikers made the trip to Manchester this evening.

Jones, Parnaby, Riggott, Bates, Queudrue (Taylor, 63), Morrison (Christie, 72) Cattermole, Boateng, Rochemback, Downing, Maccarone (Parlour, 80),Wheater, Knight

THE FIRST HALF

Nothing really happened for the first five minutes until a poor Louis Saha shot spun towards Jones, forcing him into a comfortable gather. The atmosphere at Old Trafford somewhat belied the quality of the game, which at this stage was rather tepid. The game was very tit-for-tat, with both attacks losing possession in the final third of the pitch.

The first serious attack took place in the ninth minute when Gary Neville found himself in loads of space on the right and cut into the penalty area, passing to Saha. He went down, looking for a penalty that was not bought by the referee. A minute later Lee Cattermole made an aggressive challenge on Ji-Sung Park and was lucky to escape with just a stern talking-to by the referee. From this a poor Ryan Giggs ball floated to Jones unchallenged, which summed up the poverty of the opening twelve minutes.

On thirteen a three-against-three break was squandered by United, forcing Matthew Bates to commit another foul on Park, which earned the Boro youngster a booking. A strong defensive header by Lee Cattermole snuffed out the danger from the resulting free-kick.

A minute later Ryan Giggs got behind the defence and whipped a strong ball in, that eluded both Manchester United strikers. The ball wormed its way to Park on the back post. He snatched at his shot from twelve yards out, floating the ball over the bar. It should have been the opening goal of the game.

Meanwhile Boro’s 4-5-1 tactics did not seem to be paying off, with Maccarone being very isolated up front and our defence looking vulnerable. However on eighteen Rochemback played in Maccarone with a perfectly weighted ball. Maccarone nicked the ball off Rio Ferdinand and the Italian hero forced a save out of Edwin Van der Sar, who was forced to concede a corner. Nothing resulted from this.

This gave the Boro more confidence and the blue shirts started to pour forward and put the United defence under pressure. Three minutes later a confident Maccarone found himself inside-left and eighteen yards and decided to have a go. He turned and unleashed a fierce shot which just flashed wide of the right hand post, with Van der Sar stretching.

After this both Boro and United launched attacks that broke down in the final stages. United were resorting to long ball tactics by this stage as the Boro juggernaut drove forward searching for a breakthrough.

On twenty-five Rochemback cut in from the inside left and launched another shot towards Van der Sar from around twenty-five yards, who pushed the ball behind for a corner. From this, Riggott headed it goalwards but unfortunately his effort went over the bar.

A minute later Gary Neville launched a ball into the penalty area searching for Van Nistelrooy and Park who both clumsily missed it.

Wes Brown’s sliding in on Massimo Maccarone gave the Boro a free-kick just outside the area in the thirty-first minute. Rochemback, Queudrue and Downing all hovered over the ball but the Brazilian is the one who hit it, rebounding it off the United defensive wall.

The next meaningful action took place five minutes later, with Park nicking into the box. His finish, like United’s performance thus far, was poor however, not threatening the Boro goal.

A minute later Morrison rushed into the box but the ball stuck under his feet. The best he could do was to pass it to Rochemback who wasted the build-up with a tame shot towards goal, which drifted to the right.

The next few minutes saw more composed United build-up play but every attack was thwarted by some excellent tackling by the Boro midfield. Van Nistelrooy opted to go alone in the fortieth minute but only succeeded in blasting the ball over the bar from distance.

Good skill and pace was shown by Park on the right hand side and Bates tried to clear it. However the ball caught the young Boro defender unawares and allowed Van Nistelrooy, who wasted the opportunity.

The half then dwindled to an end, with delicate passing play in the midfield. The final whistle was greeted to boos by the home supporters, showing how comfortable the Boro have been. Indeed they can feel aggrieved to not be ahead in this match.


THE SECOND HALF

Both sides made no changes going into the second forty-five. United started the half with another weak attack – which was not much more than a cross from Mikael Silvestre - that was easily gathered by Brad Jones.

On forty-eight Boro won two free kicks, the second being awarded after the first had been blocked by John O’Shea. Rochemback had taken this first free-kick from the right side around thirty yards out. The second free-kick was lobbed into the box by Stewart Downing and was headed wide by Lee Cattermole.

On fifty the Boro had a scare when midfield talisman George Boateng went down injured. However after a minute or so, Boateng was introduced back to the field of play, much to the relief of the Boro faithful

Franck Queudrue conceded a corner on fifty-three after another measured attack from the Red Devils. Giggs took this left-footed but Matthew Bates comfortably headed clear. Another corner was conceded two minutes later from a similar United offence but again the hosts were impotent.

Manchester United’s lethargy prompted Sir Alex Ferguson to make two substitutions on fifty-six: Christiano Ronaldo for Ji-Sung Park and Kieran Richardson for Patrice Evra in a hope to inject some more life into the comatose giants.

On fifty-eight Downing got the ball twenty yards on the left hand side and launched a shot towards Van der Sar, who was fully behind it. This chance was carved out of some strong build-up and holding play, particularly by Massimo Maccarone who was playing well in his lone-striker role.

A minute later Ronaldo rushed towards goal after a slip by a Boro defender, forcing Brad Jones to commit himself. Thankfully the ball deflected off the Boro keeper and the danger was cleared.

The Manchester United faithful were trying to inject some impetus into their team by this point and it was starting to pay off. In the sixty-second minute, Ronaldo showed some more of this threat as he forced a strong punching save from Brad Jones after his pace took him beyond the Boro defence.

Fearing a United backlash, Andrew Taylor was introduced to the play to replace Franck Queudrue on sixty-three as fresh legs were needed. Van Nistelrooy then turned and shot at the Boro goal, which was deflected by George Boateng for a corner.

Ryan Giggs’ out-swinging corner outfoxed Lee Cattermole who handled the ball with both hands in the box, conceding a penalty. Up stepped Van Nistelrooy, who took the penalty to his right. Brad Jones however guessed the right way and saved the ball and then pounced on the rebound, much to the relief of Cattermole.

Ronaldo had livened up the hosts though, who were becoming increasingly threatening. His shot on sixty-six typified this, flashing narrowly wide. However United kept coming, besieging the Boro goal and launching balls left, right and centre which the Boro raggedly yet doggedly cleared.

James Morrison was substituted by Malcolm Christie after this, with the ex-Derby County front-man being placed in central midfield. However it wasn’t long before a 4-4-2 formation was adopted. United however kept on coming, forcing the Boro to concede corner after corner. Thankfully none of these troubled the Boro defence too much.

Fabio Rochemback received a booking on seventy-four for tripping up Christiano Ronaldo. This did not deter the Boro who pushed forward through the pace of Malcolm Christie. This resulted in the concession of a free-kick by Gary Neville (who himself was booked) twenty yards from the United goal. Maccarone took it. The ball went through the wall but the save was comfortable for Van der Sar, who had dived to his left. United broke from this and forged a move that culminated in Richardson heading the ball over the bar from around twelve yards out.

Steve McClaren decided to replace the excellent Maccarone with Ray Parlour, reverting back to the 4-5-1 formation that had been slightly destroyed by Malcolm Christie’s introduction some ten minutes earlier. Christie was now playing as the lone front-man. United also made a substitution – Giuseppe Rossi for Louis Saha.

The most noticeable thing about the subsequent five minutes was the vast swarms of people leaving Old Trafford in disgust. On the pitch meanwhile a war of attrition was being fought where nothing of any note particularly happened apart from a booking for Silvestre because of an attack on Parlour.

INTO THE RED ZONE

The home crowd were roused in the final minute through a shot by Giuseppe Rossi that resulted in a United corner through a deflection of Chris Riggott. This was punched out by Jones and was cleared comfortably by Ray Parlour. Meanwhile the Boro fans were incredulous by the board being raised for four minutes of stoppage time.

United came some more and a shot by Rossi was superbly blocked by Matthew Bates. Middlesbrough broke through Downing but this attack petered out too and United came again. Nothing came of this too.

But United weren’t finish yet and the Boro defence was holding firm. Jones cleared through some excellent punches eventually allowing the Boro to break out. An offside decision against Van Nistelrooy also helped alleviate the pressure as the Boro tried to waste away the final sixty seconds of the game.

The whistle sounded to a chorus of boos from the United fans but it must be said that the result was fair. A weakened Boro team performed admirably tonight and everyone who played can take a lot of credit from that battling performance. The team performed as a unit and absorbed everything that United could throw at them. Indeed a point was a fair result on reflection and demonstrates that the Boro truly do have good strength in depth at present. It all bodes well for the Final.

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