Rooney Sends United To Wembley

Manchester United 3 - Manchester City 1
Scorers
Manchester United: Scholes (52), Carrick (71), Rooney (90)
Manchester City: Tevez (76)

Team: Van der Sar, Rio, Evans, Rafael (Brown 74), Scholes, Fletcher, Carrick, Nani (Valencia 90) Giggs, Rooney

Gotta hate those weekday games. I was almost asleep by the time the game started at 4am in Singapore. It didn't make for good viewing in the first half either, making me almost regret my decision to pinch myself all night just to catch this game.

The first half was probably as putrid as it can get. Shitty were all over the place and our 5-man midfield was found lacking severely going forward. Strange tactic by Ferguson to field 5 in the midfield while chasing a game. The result left Rooney all alone upfront and a defence that continued to punt the ball forward. It was pretty awful to watch. The only bright spark in the first half was Nani taking on defenders and crossing to the lone man upfront.

I had half a mind to write this game off and sleep instead of watching Ferguson mess it all up. But I was glad I didn't. The second half proved to be one of the most exciting and emotional filled halfs in a long long time.

Shitty revved up the pressure in the second half and the crowd at Old Trafford responded in the most uncivilised manner. A coin was thrown and it hit Bellamy on the head while he was retrieving the ball for a corner. There was a brief stoppage, while Van der Sar did the right thing to stand between a fallen Bellamy and the fans. It was disgraceful behaviour shown by some of our own fans.

The incident, however, seemed to have sparked United into action. Right from clearing the Shitty corner, United broke away and Scholes fired United into a rather undeserving lead. The tides shifted towards United's direction and Shitty couldn't even get a sniff of the ball.

Our persistence was rewarded in the 71st minute when Carrick passed the ball into the net after some good work from Fletcher.

Minutes later, Tevez pulled one back with an unlikely goal. The game was finely balanced and both sides were going for the win.

As time ticked away, it looked like both sides had settled for extra time, but Rooney had other ideas. He nodded home Gigg's corner in injury time to send Shitty packing.

It was an excilarating second half packed with incidents and a minor scuffle between Fletcher and Richards that threatened to boil over. In the end, we somehow overturned the deficit and came away victorious. All that's left is a cup final date with Villa on the 28th of Feb.