Manchester United 3 - 0 Birmingham City
Sunday 26th March 2006
Old Trafford, Manchester
Manchester United had one of theri easiest victories of the season against an unlikely looking Birmingham City, who are struggling with relegation. Having been thumped 7-0 by Liverpool midweek, they were probably quite happy to only concede three goals against a United side who were threatening to score many more!
The game satrted in a bad way for Birmingham, and they were never able to fully recover.
Giggs's freekick on 3 minutes found Maik Taylors outstretched hand, but the Northern Ireland keeper could only push the ball onto the post, with the ball bouncing back towards his flailing body and rebounding into the net after hitting him on the back of the head. Officially its an own goal, but Giggs deserves all the credit.
The game was effectively over as a match following Giggs's second of the day, after a slick interchange of passes with Rooney, Giggs was set free, and made no mistake with his right-footed shot.
Ronaldo then set Rooney into the clear only for Rooney to drag his shot wide of the post, with the tenacious Englishman repeating the feat when put-through again just a minute later, this time with Giggs laying on the killer ball.
United never looked threatened, although Birmingham's posession in teh openingminutes of the second half slowed the game to a dull pace.
United finally wrapped the game up on 82 minutes, with Rooney finally getting the goal he deserved, after Cristiano's intelligent flick on header.
United are looking in good form at the moment, and have won their last 9 games at home. They are finally starting to scare Chelsea.
Man Utd: Van der Sar, Neville, Ferdinand, Vidic, Silvestre, Ronaldo, O'Shea, Giggs (Fletcher 77), Richardson (Park 39), Rooney, Saha (van Nistelrooy 73).
