19

Blackburn 1 - Manchester United 1
Scorers
Blackburn: Emerton (20)
Manchester United: Rooney (pen 73)

Team: Kuszczak, Rio, Vidic, Fabio (Scholes 62), Evans, Carrick, Giggs, Valencia, Nani (Berbatov 81), Rooney, Hernandez

The title says it all. We finally knocked Liverpool off the fucking perch. Let's hope we keep it that way in the years to come.

This game was anything but a walk in the park. We started off well and Nani hit the crossbar early in the game, but we didn't score and Blackburn took advantage of Kuszczak's poor keeping to score 20 minutes into the game. With Van der Sar leaving at the end of the season, Kuszczak probably himself out of the team. It was a jittery performance of epic proportions and we were lucky to not to be down more with some dodgy handling and poor decision making.

Once Blackburn got their goal, we never really looked like scoring. In fact throughout the game we looked second best for most of the night. Most the the threat came from Blackburn while we laboured to create chances against a parked bus in front of the goal.

The breakthru came from the most unlikely source. Hernandez broke free of the offside trap and was fumbled over by Paul Robinson, resulting in a consultation between the referee and his assistant. The decision was a somewhat harsh penalty. Whilst the ball was running away from Hernandez after a heavy touch, Robinson did bring him down. Rooney took the responsibility and smashed the penalty home to our 19th title.

The remaining time was spent by both teams settling for the point and mucking around with the ball.

Hernandez was no doubt the player of the game if not the season. He's determination and goals this entire season has brought us to the title. And it's a title to cherish in more ways than one.

Firstly, as mentioned earlier, we knocked the scousers off the fucking perch. Secondly, we did it with a somewhat thin looking team on paper. What carried us thru was the whole mental setup Ferguson has instilled in the team. At the start of the season, I would never have expected us to be anywhere near the title challengers, let alone win it with a game to spare. Of course it helps that all the title aspirants managed to somehow fuck up along the way, but take nothing away from the mental strength of this team.

Irregardless of how the Champions League plays out, this has been a special season.