Manchester United bid a temporary farewell to the Premiership with a battling
draw at Sunderland after bouncing back from a nightmare start.
United had hoped to leave for the World Club Championship in Brazil on Sunday
sitting proudly at the top of the table, but they have to settle for second
after a late strike from midfielder Nicky Butt gave them a point on a bitterly
cold night in the north-east.
The men from Old Trafford will not play another league game until they
entertain Arsenal on January 24, but they will surely not have to fight as hard
anywhere this season as they did on Wearside.
Sunderland raced into a 2-0 lead within 13 minutes as Gavin McCann and Niall
Quinn made the most of an unsteady start by the United defence, but Roy Keane
threw the game back into the melting pot with a 27th minute drive.
The home side will count themselves a little unfortunate not to have clung on
to all three points as they matched the visitors for long periods, but the
quality of the treble winners finally told.
David Beckham returned from a hamstring injury to replace Paul Scholes, while
strike duo Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke, who both scored after coming on as
substitutes against Bradford, were also back in harness.
Denis Irwin took over from Phil Neville and there was also a place in the
starting line-up for Ryan Giggs.
But Sunderland were no so fortunate as the hamstring injury which kept 19-goal
striker Kevin Phillips out of the 5-0 defeat at Everton sidelined him once
again, while Alex Rae replaced Frenchman Eric Roy in central midfield.
The Wearsiders have proved since their return to the top flight that they are
no respecters of reputations and they got off to a superb start as they took the
lead with just 72 seconds gone.
Michael Gray's long free-kick was flicked on by Quinn and McCann got between
central defenders Jaap Stam and Mickael Silvestre to chest the ball down and
dispatch it past the stranded Mark Bosnich with the outside of his right foot.
Sunderland made light of Phillips' absence as they put United's shaky
rearguard under intense pressure, and Quinn again made life difficult when he
nodded down a seventh-minute Kevin Kilbane cross for Paul Butler, who hammered
his half-volley high over the bar.
But the home supporters were in dreamland on 13 minutes when the big Irishman
powered his way in front of Silvestre to meet Stefan Schwarz's near post cross
and flick the ball over Bosnich.
The visitors were struggling to cope with Sunderland's five-man midfield, but
as Keane and Nicky Butt finally managed to establish a way through, the tide
began to turn.
Keane warmed Thomas Sorensen's hands with a 25-yard thunderbolt on 24 minutes,
and that proved the prelude to their best move of the half three minutes later.
Stam played the ball wide down the left to Beckham and when he cleverly turned
it into the path of Andy Cole, he fed Keane to fire across Sorensen and into the
far corner.
Yorke shot across the face of goal from a tight angle 10 minutes from the
break as United pushed for an equaliser, and the home side needed all their
famed resilience to ensure they preserved their lead as the whistle approached.
McCann kept out Keane's near post header from a Beckham corner and Sorensen
did well to turn a looping Cole header over on the stroke of half-time.
The two sides sparred as the second-half got underway with defences on top and
chances in short supply.
Indeed, it was not until the 57th minute that either keeper was called into
action as Bosnich had to charge from his line to deny Quinn after the striker
had beaten the offside trap to chase Nicky Summerbee's cross-field ball.
Silvestre, who was having something of a mixed night, twice played the ball
straight at McCann deep inside his own half but escaped on both occasions, and
Stam was guilty of a similar crime as he gifted possession to Michael Gray and
was rescued by Gary Neville.
Cole thought he was in on goal on 62 minutes after Keane and Giggs linked
well, but Chris Makin was able to shepherd the ball back to Sorensen.
The Dane pulled off a fine save five minutes later when Cole ran on to Yorke's
pass and shot across him, and although Sorensen could not hold it, Giggs was
unable to recycle the loose ball to any great effect.
Ferguson gambled by replacing Irwin with Teddy Sheringham on 77 minutes, but
it was Giggs who went on a mazy run four minutes later only to fire high over
from 20 yards.
However, the visitors drew level with just four minutes remaining when Butt
sent a bobbling shot from the edge of the area past Sorensen to set up a
grandstand, but ultimately inconclusive, finish.
Teams:
Sunderland: Sorensen, Makin, Butler, Bould, Gray, Summerbee,
Rae (Williams 61), McCann, Schwarz, Kilbane (Reddy 89), Quinn.
Subs Not Used: Oster, Roy, Marriott.
Booked: Rae, Makin, Schwarz.
Goals: McCann 2, Quinn 13.
Man Utd: Bosnich, G. Neville, Stam, Silvestre,
Irwin (Sheringham 77), Beckham (Solskjaer 84), Butt, Keane,
Giggs, Yorke, Cole (P. Neville 87).
Subs Not Used: Berg, Van Der Gouw.
Booked: Stam, Giggs.
Goals: Keane 27, Butt 86.
Att: 42,026
Ref: J Winter (Stockton-on-Tees).
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