FA Carling Premiership Game 15: Sunday 29 November 1998 Manchester United 3 - 2 Leeds United (Half-time: 1 - 1) Crowd: 55172 Referee: G Poll (Tring)
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Armchair report - Guy Bonello

Deserved at least a draw, even though the Gods only played in patches. Scum were much more confortable, playing as a team and spraying the ball about. Signs of DOL's influence in the never-say-die attitude in the team.

More worrying though, are the injuries to Hiden and Martyn. Let's hope they aren't out long term. Midfield nver seemd to work as a unit, with players appearing in fits and starts individually. Here's to a:

Hopkin - Batty - Bowyer - Kewell midfield next Saturday, which apparently is live on satellite along with the Villa-Scum game.

Score on the doors:

Martyn 8 2 world-class saves. Injured making the second and stayed in the dressing-room at half-time
Halle 6 Roll on Kelly's return. Couldn't cope with Solskjaer who was playing out of position o nthe left.
Harte 5 Destroyed by Scholes on the right time and time again, especially for the second goal. Crap passes and at least 3 air-shots
Woodgate 8 Mt MOTM. Solid at the back and played Yorke out of the game.Gaining in stature with every game.
Hiden 6 Lasted only 25 minutes before going off injured.
Haaland 6 Usual headless chicken routine
McPhail 6 Godd first half but lost it in the second
Hopkin 7 Opposite to McPhail. Anonymous in the frst half but came more into it in the second when Leeds controlled the midfield.
Ribeiro 6 Conditioned by an arly booking and affected by the crap pitch.
Jimmy 6 Embarrassed Rudolph at the near post for the goal, but also seriously affected by the state of the pitch, worsening his already crap first touch. turf also hampered him from his usual charging runs.
Kewell 7 Took his goal well but was guilty of 2 easier chances, the first of which could have killed off the game at 2-0.
Robinson 7 No fault with the goals, some great saves.
Wetherall 7 Better than his last outings. Kept Cole quiet.
Smith 6 Only on for 6 minutes, looked a bit too overeager.

Ref; 8 Denied Scum a couple of possible penalties.Took the state of the pitch into consideration when punishing some tackles.

Pitch: 0 Crap, worse than ER a couple of seasons ago. Untrue bounce and very slow, hampering any runs from either side.

Commentator (Alan Parry) got it spot on saying Scum were lucky and Ledds deserved a draw: 2-2 would have been a much fairer result. Also, tipped the Gods for at least a top 5 spot.

Scum report - Matt G

Started off as usual, Scum pushing forward, one great save from Nigel but generally holding on OK, Hiden and Woodgate doing well, until Hiden goes off injured and is replaced by Wetherall. Then Jimmy gets the ball wide left, usual trick runs at the defender, cuts inside and shoots, hits left post, rolls across line hits right post and in. Pandemonium from our end, most of us have never seen Leeds take the lead here before. People hugging, tumbling over seats etc.

They come back at us, Cole misses a good chance, then Martyn makes an unbelievable save, unfortunately he either hits the post or lands awkwardly and is obviously injured but carries on. Then Jimmy lobs the ball through and Harry is onside all on his own, he lifts it over Schmeichal but the ball lands wide - an absolute sitter. Martyn takes painkillers but is in big trouble, just sidefooting the ball out for throw-ins when it is passed back to him as he's unable to kick it. More pressure from them - and eventually it pays off just before h-t, Solskyaar gets clear on the left and hits a low shot from a narrow angle, which Nigel can't get down to, maybe Robinson may have saved it.

Second half - Robinson on for Martyn 20 minutes too late - but after 20 seconds they've scored again, good move, Keane meets a low cross and Robinson has no chance. We suspect we will crumble now but a few minutes later Harry is clean through and sweetly chips over Schmeichal 2-2. Then for 20 minutes we are brilliant and have the Scum seriously worried, loads of possession in their half, winning every tackle. Two good chances, Hopkin takes too long and his shot is blocked, then Harry is played in by Jimmy but his shot from the angle hits the side-netting.

Then the tide turns Robinson is finally forced into a save with 15 minutes left, then Butt hits a screamer and we're behind. Smith comes on, but we never really got back on top again. One bouncing ball fell to a Leeds player on the edge of the area with a minute left, but unfortunately it was Weatherall. Final whistle and we get Gary Neville gesturing at us again. We played well, brilliant for a spell in the 2nd half and deserved at least a draw.

Scores -

Martyn - 8 Some great saves early on, but should have been taken off as soon as he was injured.
Robinson - 7 Not much chance with either goal.
Halle 7 - Played well, worked hard, solid.
Woodgate 8 - Excellent - Carries the ball forward with confidence Sol Campbell style at times.
Hiden 8 - Was having a stormer til injured
Wetherall 6 - No obvious mistakes, but troubled by their movement.
Harte - 6 Not his best game, saw a lot of the ball but did little with it. Defensively OK.
Haalland 6 - Usual ran around a lot - done his job
Hopkin 7 - Got stuck in and ran all day - Stupid booking for handball.
McPhail 8 - Very tidy game, nothing spectacular, but he is the key to us holding on to the ball and not getting over-run with pressure.
Ribeiro 7 - Again neat and tidy, worked hard, short simple and effective passing
Kewell 8.5 - MOM despite two bad misses, his pace and movement had them permanently worried. On top of his game at present.
Jimmy 7 - Usual Jimmy, a great goal, caused trouble with his pace, set up Kewell twice, but dived and whinged too much as well.

After that 25 minutes kept back to clear the Scum from the streets, not too bothered myself but some idiots started pushing the police around near the front. Then a police escort that just took us to a traffic jam and left us, didn't get out of Manchester til at least an hour after the game finished. Then the usual half an hour in a traffic jam near Birmingham meant a long journey home.

Scum Game Review - Barjinder Singh

Nice stadium I have say despite the bemusing chant of "You've got a crap stadium and no fans" from the Leeds faithful. I would've thought 50,000 fans was enough for anybody even though they were all cockneys. The Police were everywhere in force, on the roofs, ground; armed with video cameras and truncheons. Once in the ground I was a bit pissed off that out of all the seats available, we had to be behind the morons who wouldn't sit down and stayed stood up for the entire game.

First half was about even with Nige in top form. I think it was that C*nt Keane who challenged Hiden before he was taken off. Excellent strike form JFH who was still getting the John Lee style criticism from some even after he'd scored; Unbelievable ! No WATCCO as half time for some reason, perhaps it was too cold..

Harte had been sussed out early on the first half by them as being the week link in our defence and it was no surprise the Hippo Scholes skinned him and placed the ball straight to the nutter who blasted past Robo. However much like the Scouse game a fortnight ago this just kick started us into life. Kewell and Bruno were majestic as was Jimmy with one turn that completely left the shirt puller Stam for dead. Kewell should have a had trick and at 2-2, Bruno would've scored if found by Kewell on his left.

A draw would've been a fair result but with Lucas playing I'm sure we'd have won. Even spit admitted that we were the better side in the second half.

Martyn (8) - Two superb saves. Would've saved Babyface's tame goal if not injured.
Robinson (7) - Difficult to see but seem to cope well with crosses.
Hiden (6) - Pitty he went off. The defence, except Harte, looked in control prior him going.
Haaland (5) - Plenty of effort but failed to do anything with the ball in his possession.
Halle (5) - Let too many crosses go past him. Had chances to cut inside for a shot but didn't.
Whethers (6) - Won most things in the air, too scared to tackle on the floor. If only he could shoot.
Woodgate (8) - Reading the game very well. Didn't give Yorke a sniff.
Harte (3) - Saved by Kewell/Bruno. Too slow as their second goal all too easily shows..
Mcphail (6) - Some excellent passes to JFH. Played in patches though.
Bruno (7) - Ideal game for him. A class player who must be given more opportunities.
Hopkin (7) - Lost out to Arse-Butt where Bowyer wouldn't have but good aggressive game.
JFH (9) - Stam is supposed to be world class, Jimmy got the better of him many times.
Kewell (9) - MOTM for me. Didn't have the room like against Charlton but scared the S*it out them whenever he had the ball. If he could shoot from outside the box then he could truly become world class.

Relieved to see the wheels on my car still there 40 mins after the game. No surprise as we drove home along the M56 at the 3 mile queue for the M6 southbound - 50,000 cockneys! 50,000....

No buts from Ferguson but Butt tips the balance - David Hopps

Alex Ferguson had unmistakably thrown down the challenge yesterday, warning that he would be "examining in every detail the attitudes and standards" of a Manchester United side whose Premiership challenge has been undermined too often by the rival attractions of the Champions League.

Even such notably hard taskmasters can purr with delight on occasions and Ferguson was delighted by this response. There is no more passionate challenge to United than that provided by their rivals from across the Pennines. They had to stretch every sinew, burst every lung before victory was achieved.

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