St James Park, Newcastle United 1 Man United 2

Manchester are not letting their lead on the Premiership Crown slip as they survived an early goal by Toon and came back from behind to get three points at St James Park with a Dimitar Berbatov second.

The match started with a spirited Newcastle offensive, the team currently at 16th position, and only one point from the death zone, separating them from Blackburn Rovers. With Newcastle exerting pressure early on, United conceded an early goal from a
Edwin van der Sar error which gave Peter Lovenkrands the opportunity to give Newcastle the lead after eight minutes of play.

United's initial problems were gradually resolved around the park as they wrestled away most of the dominance in the middle of the park. England international Wayne Rooney equalised a mere 10 minutes later in the first half. 

Newcastle were under strength and without key players. Liverpool and Chelsea supporters could only hope that Newcastle would survive the second half and maintain the scoreline as it was, 1-1.

But on the 54th minute, a Ryan Taylor error allowed Korean international Ji-Sung Park pass a smart ball to Berbatov who was left with the simple task of tapping the ball in the net. After last night's proceedings, this has left United seven points clear of Chelsea and Liverpool and with a game in hand.

Alex Ferguson was delighted by the score and admitted to the club's official website that this was an important match, but that United are used to pressure late on in the season.

"We had a hard time in the first 20 minutes and they could have been two up before we'd really even got started," Ferguson said as quoted by MUTV. "They were very aggressive with their tackling and they put a lot of hard work into their game."

"Edwin was very disappointed with their goal. The ball came up off the ground a little awkwardly, but he knows it was a mistake. But if you're going to make a mistake it's best to do it in games you win and Edwin was certainly pleased we ended up winning the match.

"Overall, it was a big victory for us considering we got off to such a bad start and had to come from behind," he said. "It's not easy to do that here especially against a team as determined as Newcastle were."


Newcastle: Harper, Steven Taylor, Coloccini, Bassong, Jose Enrique, Lovenkrands, Ryan Taylor (Carroll 77), Geremi, Gutierrez, Martins, Smith (LuaLua 82). Subs Not Used: Krul, Cacapa, Butt, Ameobi, Edgar.

Goals: Rooney 20, Berbatov 56.

Goals: Lovenkrands 9.

Man Utd: Van der Sar, O'Shea, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Ronaldo, Fletcher, Carrick, Park, Berbatov (Giggs 90), Rooney. Subs Not Used: Foster, Anderson, Scholes, Evans, Tevez, Eckersley.