If We Win The Title This Season, It's Down To This Game

Manchester United 1 - Bolton 0
Scorer
Manchester United: Berbatov (88)


Red Card
Manchester United: Evans (75)


Team: Van der Sar, Smalling, Evans, Brown (Fabio 46), Evra, Carrick, Giggs, Valencia, Nani, Rooney, Hernandez (Berbatov 46)

10 men, no Ferguson, against the odds, and we came away with a precious victory. This was a superb victory not only in terms of the circumstances surrounding the victory, but also Arsenal dropping points to give us a cushion in the run-in.

We came into this game without a good 75% of our defenders and were practically down to the bare-bones in that department. It was made worse when Johnny was sent off for a terrible tackle in the 75th minute. He now faces a lengthy suspension, while Rio is out for the season and both O'Shea and Rafael incurred hamstring problems at midweek. What was most nerve-wrecking was that we had to employ Carrick as a makeshift central defender to partner Smalling in the last 15 minutes.

We also had a terrible ruling by the FA to suspended Fergie from the touchline for a whooping 5 games, starting with today's game. Although Ferguson's comments were out of line even though it echoed most fans' sentiments, 5 games smacked of a conspiracy to take us off our stride.

Last but not least, we had a grueling game at midweek in the Champions League. The good thing out of that was that we got to face Chelsea in the quarters and hopefully the lads are up for a revenge especially the way we lost to them a couple of weeks ago.

Under those circumstances, a draw would have been a welcome result. Yet after Evans was sent off, we threw bodies forward in search of 3 points instead of protecting the 1, which was absolutely brilliant. Nerve-wrecking but very entertaining. It made matter all the sweeter that Arsenal valiantly fought back from 2 down to draw 2-2 but couldn't get over the hump, while we did. In the grand scheme of the title race, Berbatov's goal was probably the most important to date.

Berbatov's substitution at half time was a head-scratcher. He replaced Hernandez, who had done no wrong, and could so readily have backfired. I know I was bewildered like many others out there, but that's the reason why Ferguson is the manager of this great club and I'm at home blogging.