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Beckham leads the charge as spirited Wimbledon fold again
By Colin Malam at Selhurst Park | |
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Wimbledon (0) 2 Man Utd (0) 5 WIMBLEDON must wonder exactly what it is they have to do to beat Manchester United at Selhurst Park. Having had much the better of the first half, the London club were blown away after the interval by the Premiership leaders, who have now lost only once at this ground in their last 10 visits. Joe Kinnear's spirited side made a fight of it by equalising through Neal Ardley and Michael Hughes after Nicky Butt and David Beckham had seemingly established a winning lead for United. But they had no answer to the goals from Beckham, Paul Scholes and Andy Cole with which United responded in the manner of true champions. The first surprise, in a fixture where something unusual always seems to happen, was the omission of Beckham by United. It looked like a tactical decision designed to allow the introduction in central midfield of Ronny Johnsen's greater physical presence against opponents renowned for their muscular approach to the game. Johnsen was not needed in central defence, as expected, because Gary Pallister made an unexpected recovery from the back injury he had suffered in the 3-2 defeat at Arsenal on United's last visit to London two weeks earlier. So while Beckham looked on from the bench at the scene of his memorable long-range goal last season, his team lined up with a bit of extra muscle of their own. They needed it in an opening 10 minutes that saw Wimbledon pen the League leaders in their own half with their usual high-powered pressure tactics. However, the nearest the home side came to making a breakthrough was when Peter Schmeichel dropped a long, deep cross from Kenny Cunningham, and Carl Cort was unable to turn the ball back into the danger area. United showed they could be pretty direct themselves, too, when they wanted. It was straight from Schmeichel's long clearance, for instance, that Cole tried lobbing an awkwardly bouncing ball over Neil Sullivan. The high trajectory was all wrong, though, and the Wimbledon goalkeeper dealt comfortably with the danger despite pressure from Ryan Giggs. Giggs then got into an angry, nose-to-nose confrontation with Dean Blackwell. They obviously disagreed over the question of whether the Wimbledon centre-back had tripped Giggs deliberately when the United winger was trying to run clear on to a short through pass from Cole. All that mattered was the view of referee Paul Durkin, who saw the contact as accidental. It was just about the last time in the first half that United were seen as an attacking force. Cort, Wimbledon's raw young striker, might easily have had a hat-trick, so dominant were his team in the 25 minutes leading up to the interval. Twice the 6ft 4in beanpole shot wildly when clean through, and once he headed wide when it seemed easier to score from Vinnie Jones's accurate, flat cross. When Schmeichel was not being given anxious moments by Cort, he was having to deal with fierce shots from long range or come off his line quickly to deal with Wimbledon's frequent attacking thrusts. One 25-yarder, from Ceri Hughes, gave the United goalkeeper particular trouble. The big Dane had to sprint out extra hard, too, to block a shot from the runaway Michael Hughes. Wimbledon's domination of the United defence in the air was quickly resumed at the start of the second half, Cort heading a Cunningham centre straight at Schmeichel. The pattern was rudely shattered, however, when United took the lead after 47 minutes with an attack that seemed to carry no particular menace. Having gone on a long, meandering run infield from the left, Giggs slipped the ball through neatly to Butt in the inside right position. Butt, who had been deputising rather uneasily on the right flank for Beckham, turned adroitly enough on this chance and lashed the ball past Sullivan from just inside the penalty area. Giggs also began United's second goal, which was scored after 66 minutes. Cole moved the ball on to Scholes, who went wide on the left before delivering a low centre across the face of goal for Beckham, coming in unmarked at the far post, to put the ball in the net with his first touch after coming on as substitute for Gary Neville a minute earlier. The goals then came thick and fast. Hardly had United gone 2-0 ahead than Ardley volleyed Wimbledon back into the game as the visitors' defence unwisely stood off him; and Michael Hughes made it 2-2 after 70 minutes by running on to Chris Perry's through pass, outpacing the United defence and dinking the ball past Schmeichel. But Beckham was not to be denied his own moment of glory, a 30-yard shot taking enough of a deflection to skid past Sullivan after 75 minutes. Just to make sure, Scholes cheekily back-heeled in Cole's pass six minutes later and Cole smashed in a fifth himself five minutes from the end. __________________________________________________________ Wimbledon (0) 2 Man Utd (0) 5 Ardley 68, M. Hughes 70; Butt 48, Beckham 66, 76, Scholes 81, Cole 87. Wimbledon: Sullivan, Cunningham, Jones, Blackwell, Thatcher, C. Hughes (Clarke 85), Gayle, Perry, M. Hughes, Ardley (Solbakken 85), Cort. Subs Not Used: Kimble, Earle, Heald. Booked: C. Hughes, Perry. Man Utd: Schmeichel, G. Neville (Beckham 65), Johnsen, Pallister, Butt, Cole, Sheringham, Giggs, P. Neville, Scholes, Berg. Subs Not Used: Van Der Gouw, Poborsky, Solskjaer, Curtis. Booked: Scholes. Att: 26,309 Ref: P A Durkin (Portland). __________________________________________________________ Barnsley stun Liverpool while Man Utd march on (adds detail, quotes) By Mitch Phillips LONDON, Nov 22 (Reuters) - The English premier league was turned upside down on Saturday as bottom club Barnsley stunned Liverpool 1-0 at Anfield and Sheffield Wednesday welcomed back manager Ron Atkinson by beating high-flying Arsenal 2-0. But champions Manchester United did not falter, beating Wimbledon 5-2, and Blackburn edged a high quality match against Chelsea 1-0 at Ewood Park. United top the standings with 31 points, one ahead of Blackburn. Arsenal have 27 with Chelsea fourth on 25. Everton are the league's new bottom side after losing 2-1 at Aston Villa. Liverpool had won all five previous home league games this season, scoring 18 goals in the process, while Barnsley had shipped 11 in their last two away matches. But the Yorkshire side silenced the Anfield crowd with a bizarre goal after 35 minutes. In a defensive mix-up Liverpool goalkeeper David James was left stranded and Patrick Berger could only help the ball straight into the path of Ashley Ward who nudged it into an empty net. Liverpool seemed unable to get themselves fired up until the latter stages but the visitors held out for an unlikely victory. Sheffield Wednesday handed Arsenal their second defeat of the season to start Atkinson's second spell as manager on a high note. The opening goal came courtesy of a terrible defensive blunder just before halftime by Frenchman Gilles Grimandi. He inexplicably passed the ball backwards to Andy Booth who slotted it under David Seaman. Wednesday worked hard to keep the visitors at bay and settled the match with a late breakaway goal by Guy Whittingham. "I've enjoyed the buzz of being back," said Atkinson who left Hillsborough in acrimonious circumstances six years ago. "We earned our luck today but there is still an awful lot to be done." There was no hint of the excitement to come in a dour first half at Wimbledon. Manchester United went ahead three minutes after the break through Nicky Butt but not until David Beckham, who scored from inside his own half in this fixture last season, came on as a substitute did the sparks fly. He scored with his first touch in the 66th minute but within four minutes Wimbledon were level, their goals coming from Neil Ardley and Michael Hughes. Beckham immediately restored United's lead and then Paul Scholes and Andy Cole weighed in to sink the Dons. While United's fans went away celebrating, hundreds of Wimbledon fans swarmed on to the pitch protesting against the club's proposed move to Dublin. Blackburn settled a high class game against Chelsea in the 11th minute when Gary Croft fired home his first goal for the club. But the London side missed a series of good chances -- chief culprit being Gianfranco Zola who made his first appearance in England in this fixture last season. "We played very well in the second half," said Blackburn boss Roy Hodgson, "but I have to thank Gianfranco for those misses." Chelsea's disappointed manager Ruud Gullit lamented: "We created, created, created - but didn't finish." Two weeks ago Derby raced into a 3-0 lead against Leeds only to lose 4-3. On Saturday Francesco Baiano, a Stefanio Eranio penalty and Paulo Wanchope again had them three up after 40 minutes, and this time they restricted Coventry's comeback to a single Darren Huckerby goal. Southampton's Kevin Davies scored for the fourth successive game at St James' Park but two from John Barnes turned things round for Newcastle. The same happened at Villa Park where Gary Speed's early penalty gave Everton hope, only for Savo Milosevic and Ugo Ehiogu give Villa the points and leave Everton bottom. The day's other game between Leicester and Bolton ended goalless. West Ham visit Leeds on Sunday while Tottenham's first outing under new Swiss manager Christian Gross comes on Monday at home against Crystal Palace. © Reuters Limited 1997 __________________________________________________________ Beckham lights the touchpaper Chris Lightbown at Selhurst Park Wimbledon 2 Manchester United 5 THIS result was every bit as staggering as it seems. For Manchester United were poor in the first half and even when 4-2 down, Wimbledon were not totally out of things. But the sheer verve and skill United produced in the final 25 minutes could not have been dealt with by anybody. Neither was it the sparking of individuals that brought them back to life. It was the sparking of an entire side. United have developed an inner certainty which can survive a half of exceptionally poor play. Who can catch them? This was all the more remarkable because for 45 minutes, there was absolutely no taste of what was to come. Henning Berg's first touch, for instance, was the sort of hoofed long ball that Wimbledon are usually condemned for making. He was not even under any pressure. Berg's colleagues were not much better. Long before half-time, Carl Cort had had more attempts on goal than Andy Cole, Ryan Giggs and Teddy Sheringham combined. In fact, more than all of Manchester United combined. Not that Cort was mounting a one-man show. In the 23rd minute, he was on the tail end of a classic Wimbledon move. Chris Perry broke down a United attack - effectively their first of any substance - ran, and passed to Michael Hughes who swept it on to Marcus Gayle. Vinnie Jones took Gayle's pass and crossed it to Cort who headed just wide. Very good stuff. Bits of United's potential fizzed and popped. After 15 minutes, Giggs slashed his way through three defenders, but Neil Sullivan collected his shot utterly effortlessly. Earlier, Cole had swished forward and moved the ball on to Giggs at the only moment liable to open up Wimbledon. However, Jones had other ideas and dispossessed Giggs in a manner which we will just call robust. Giggs attempted a nose-to-nose confrontation with Jones, but Jones looked down at him, breathed in his face and Giggs went away. Probably a wise decision. On Wimbledon went. Gayle headed down to Cort who snapped in a ferocious shot. Cort headed on to Gayle who hit a shot narrowly over. By the end of the first half, United were getting pulled all over the place. The torrent that ended with Cort and Gayle flowed through Wimbledon's two Hughes's, Ceri and Michael, among other Wimbledon stalwarts. Not even a bout of short and plain inaccurate goal-kicks by Sullivan could shift the balance of power back to United. At one point, Gary Neville slapped in a half-hearted shot from outside Sullivan's penalty area which was not even aimed at his goal. The logic was that it might get a deflection somewhere along the line. Poor stuff. Whereupon, United scored. Giggs finally got in a cross without being crowded out, Nicky Butt got onto the end of it and shot from around the penalty spot. A stunned Sullivan picked the ball out of the net. It was United's first shot on target. Now everything opened up. David Beckham had barely been on for a minute when he got a goal. The ball snapped through Giggs, Paul Scholes and Cole before Beckham cracked in a shot from an impossible angle past Sullivan. Wimbledon were reeling. But back they came. Within a minute, Neal Ardley's shot from outside Peter Schmeichel's crowded area and it seemed to be going nowhere until it crossed his line. Was Schmeichel unsighted? Possibly. But with Michael Hughes buzzing absolutely everywhere, Wimbledon came storming back at United. The move which put them back on level terms began with a brisk pass out of defence and Michael Hughes, moving onto the ball as it landed just inside United's half. Hughes ran on and on and just at the moment that it seemed he had run too far, he shot. Suddenly, Wimbledon were level. But the see-saw was about to lurch out of control. The Beckham shot which restored United's lead was probably from 30 yards. It took a huge deflection from Jones but by this stage United were playing with such confidence that they were trying such things and making them come off. Could it get any better for them? Indeed it could. Scholes' goal was a flick not unlike those with which Denis Law used to score and Cole's goal was an equally imperious shot from the sort of angle anybody would be pleased to score from. Who can stop them? * ABOUT 1,000 Wimbledon mounted a vigorous but peaceful protest at the end of the game against their club's plans to move to Dublin. They remained behind after the whistle, chanting "We'll never go to Dublin". Sam Hammam, Wimbledon's Managing Director, spoke to them, but without a microphone, dialogue with so many fans was impossible. Wimbledon: Sullivan; Cunningham, Jones (Solbakken 85min), Blackwell, Thatcher, C Hughes (Earle 85min), Gayle, Perry, M Hughes, Ardley (Clarke 85min), Cort. Manchester United: Schmeichel; G Neville (Beckham 64min), Johnsen, Pallister, Butt, Cole, Sheringham, Giggs, P Neville, Scholes, Berg. Scorers: Wimbledon: Ardley 68, M Hughes 70 Manchester United: Butt 48, Beckham 66, 76, Scholes 81, Cole 8. Referee: P Durkin (Portland). Attendance: 26,309. Copyright 1997 The Times Newspapers Limited. __________________________________________________________ Wimbledon v Man United 22/11/97 3.00 Wimbledon (0) 2 Man United (0) 5 FT Ardley 68 Butt 48 M. Hughes 70 Beckham 66,76 Scholes 81 Cole 87 David Beckham took centre-stage at Selhurst Park again - despite spending two thirds of the match sitting on the bench. The England star had catapulted himself into the national spotlight with that wonder-strike from inside his own half on the opening day of last term. Today, however, Beckham was forced to take a watching brief for over an hour as United's first away league win since August looked highly unlikely for long periods, Wimbledon wasting a host of chances. But after Nicky Butt had put the Reds ahead with their first on-target shot three minutes into the second period, Ferguson gave Beckham his head in the 65th minute. Within seconds he had found the back of the net with his first touch, the 55 yards of last term reduced by 50 this time. Joe Kinnear's brave battlers then came roaring back, Neil Ardley crashing through a crowd of players and Michael Hughes beating the offside trap to claim his first for the Dons since his arrival from West Ham three minutes later. But that was just the cue for Beckham to do it again, the midfielder lining up a shot from fully 30 yards that took a massive deflection off Vinnie Jones and again left Neil Sullivan cursing Beckham's name. And with time running out, United added insult to injury, Paul Scholes and Andy Cole both finding the target in the dying minutes to rub salt in the gaping wound. Yet the Dons will wonder how it could end like that. With Beckham left out ahead of Thursday's Champions' League date with Slovakians Kosice, Ronny Johnsen was brought in. But from the start the Dons seemed more up for it, as United, not aided by an inconsistent display by Peter Schmeichel, never really settled, despite the probings of Scholes. Gary Pallister - like Gary Neville and Teddy Sheringham fit after injuries - and Phil Neville were stretched to clear as Wimbledon pinged the ball into the box. One devastating break saw Giggs sent tumbling by Dean Blackwell as he was poise to latch on to Cole's pass, but referee Paul Durkin saw neither that nor the ensuing eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation between the rival players. Cort's size and pace were proving a real handful, and if the strapping striker, 20 a few weeks ago, could have added maturity to his game United would surely have been out of it by the break. First Cort's nod down from Vinnie Jones gave Ceri Hughes room for a scuffed shot, and then when Jones centred again, Cort rose highest but directed his header wide. And then Cort was guilty of two glaring misses in the space of five minutes. Marcus Gayle - hardly a midget himself - flicked on from Neil Sullivan's free-kick, and Cort was away clear inside the box. He had time on his side, steadied himself, but dragged wide of the target, and that miss was perhaps on his mind when Kenny Cunningham's long ball sent him away again, with Cort this time snatching at his effort which flew off-target. Still Wimbledon could take encouragement, Cort and Gayle both bringing saves from Schmeichel before the Dane's long legs foiled Michael Hughes after the strike duo had combined to put the Ulsterman through. Ferguson would not have been happy to see his side go 45 minutes without testing Sullivan once, yet within three minutes of the restart - with Henning Berg off the field receiving treatment for a head wound after a clash with Gayle - Butt struck. Giggs linked with Cole, took the return and ghosted past Ceri Hughes, before teeing up the midfielder to crash home his second of the season. Now United had something to hang on to, although Schmeichel failed to hold a low drive from Cort in the 56th minute, relieved that Wimbledon were not hunting down the loose ball. Sheringham, not at his influential best, was a fraction wide with a bending free-kick after Chris Perry had been rightly cautioned for a blatant bodycheck to stop Giggs in full flight, and then Cole turned in the box after being fed by Giggs but without the finish to match. In the 62nd minute Wimbledon - and Cort - did find a way past Schmeichel, although it did not count, with Mr Durkin adjudging the striker had fouled Gary Neville. Three minutes later Beckham, only on the pitch for a matter of seconds after replacing Neville, looked to have sealed it, converting Scholes' cross from close range. That was counting without the Dons' trademark resilience, as two goals in the space of three minutes seemed to have turned the game back on its head. Wimbledon were still appealing for a penalty after Michael Hughes' shot ran up Pallister's arm when Ardley took the ball down and drilled a low effort through a crowd of players and beyond Schmeichel. Delight turned to euphoria just a couple of minutes later, when Perry's long ball saw Hughes go clear with the flag staying down. Too quick for Pallister, Hughes waited for Schmeichel to commit himself, and then coolly slipped past the Dane to set off a Selhurst Park party. A party that went flat, as Beckham's vital contribution - albeit with Jones' unwitting help - tilted the game back United's way. After all that effort, it was cruel on the Dons, crueller still when Beckham and Cole combined for Scholes to arrogantly flick him the killer nine minutes from the end. Cole's ninth in five games, four minutes later, was even more harsh, albeit the left-footer was an outstanding finish. That, though, is what champions do. Wimbledon: Sullivan, Cunningham, Jones, Blackwell, Thatcher, C. Hughes (Clarke, 85), Gayle, Perry, M. Hughes, Ardley (Solbakken, 85), Cort. Subs not used: Kimble, Earle, Heald. Booked: C. Hughes, Perry. Man United: Schmeichel, G. Neville (Beckham, 65), Johnsen, Pallister, Butt, Cole, Sheringham, Giggs, P. Neville, Scholes, Berg. Subs not used: Van Der Gouw, Poborsky, Solskjaer, Curtis. Booked: Scholes. Attendance: 26,309. Referee: P A Durkin (Portland). |
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