London,
December 26:
Manchester
United came
from behind three times to earn a vital 4-3
Premier League win against Newcastle in a
Boxing Day cracker at Old Trafford.
James Perch gave the visitors a shock early
lead but Sir Alex Ferguson's side were level
against the run of play through Jonny Evans
midway through the first half. Evans then
put the ball in his own in net, in a goal
surrounded by controversy, before Patrice
Evra once more got United on level terms
shortly after the break.
Papiss Cisse put the Magpies ahead for the
third time in the second half, just moments
before Robin van Persie found a third
equaliser for the hosts. Finally, Chicharito,
who had spurned a number of chances,
dramatically gave United the lead right at
the death.
Sir Alex made five changes to the side
which drew at Swansea, with Wayne
Rooney the most notable absentee.
Chicharito, Phil Jones, Nemanja Vidic, Paul
Scholes and Ryan Giggs all returned to the
starting line-up.
Alan Pardew, meanwhile, replaced the
suspended Cheikh Tiote with Gael
Bigirimana, while Sylvain Marveaux came in
for Jonas Gutierrez in the only other
change.
The visitors looked up for it early on and
found themselves ahead inside four
minutes. Michael Carrick's miscontrol in
midfield allowed Demba Ba to fire a
speculative shot at David de Gea and the
United shot-stopper could only push the
striker's effort into the path of Perch, who
tapped home his first ever Premier League
goal.
Newcastle continued their bright start with
Cisse and Ba keeping the United's defence
on their toes. Fabricio Coloccini nearly
doubled their lead after 20 minutes when
he nearly looped a header over De Gea,
while the hosts failed to even register a
meaningful effort on goal.
But the equaliser, against the run of play,
eventually came 5 minutes later when
Evans bundled the ball in from six yards
after Tim Krul had originally done well to
keep out Hernandez from close range.
United were only level for a matter of
moments as the Magpies regained the lead
four minutes later with a highly
controversial goal. Danny Simpson had his
shot deflected into his own goal by Evans
but it was disallowed for offside, with Cisse
judged to have been in an active position.
However, referee Mike Dean reversed the
decision after consulting with the
linesman.
It could have been even worse for United
going in at half-time, Marveaux rattled the
crossbar just before the break with a
superbly struck left-footed free kick.
Newcastle were on top at the beginning of
the second period too, but were again
pegged back in the 58th minute as Evra
drove home United's first shot of the half.
Krul could perhaps have done better as the
defender's shot crept past him from the
edge of the area.
The visitors again took the lead, though,
this time via an emphatic finish from Cisse
after fine work on the left flank from
Gabriel Obertan. Amazingly, United were
straight back in it two minutes later; Van
Persie drew a good save from Krul before
turning in the ball in at the second time of
asking.
It was all United for the last quarter of the
game as they desperately piled forward in
search of a winner. Van Persie and
Chicharito spurned numerous chances, with
the Mexican coming closest with a header
of the post.
In a frantic final few minutes both sides
could have snatched all three points.
Sammy Ameobi did brilliantly after coming
on to hold the ball up and beat De Gea
with a controlled low effort, but saw his
shot come back of the foot of the post.
While Hernandez once again wasted a
golden chance with a close range header
hit directly at Krul.
But the Mexican wasn't to be denied for
much longer, Carrick's excellently chipped
ball found Chicharito in the box and he slid
home United's winner in injury time
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