Football story by Vinnie Mitchell, Mon, 12 Dec 2005 17:04:00 GMT


Manchester United continued to reel under pressure as Everton held them to a 1-1 draw in Sunday's action in the English Premier League. Manchester United have now slipped to the third spot after Liverpool went to the second after their 2-0 win over Middlesbrough on Saturday.

The Red Devils came under immediate pressure as James McFadden slipped one past United's Dutch keeper Edwin Van der Sar. The angle of the shot was very tight and Everton celebrated a good goal and put immediate pressure on United.

This goal came only seven minutes into the match and Everton began to play rather freely after this. Perhaps this is what cost them as Paul Scholes found Ryan Giggs with a precise pass that was calmly netted past Richard Wright by the Welshman.

Wayne Rooney, Alan Smith, Giggs, Gary Neville and Paul Scholes all came close to scoring and were denied by some belligerent goal keeping by Richard Wright. The teams went into half-time with scores level. Even though United had a lion's share of the possession they failed to translate the same into goals.

This pattern was repeated for much of the second half as well, but Everton came close to stealing the second on a break. It was McFadden once again, but excellent reflexes by Van der Sar saved United the blushes. Guiseppe Rossi came on for the Reds late in the game and could have sealed it, but his header was off-target. It was a bad match for United, who are battling severe criticism after being bundled out of the UEFA Champions' League by Benfica on Wednesday.

Sir Alex Ferguson admitted that the players were desperate to win and perhaps that was the reason they could not capitalize on their chances, "I think we played some good football in this game but we got a bit anxious in the second half. My players were desperate to win it and did their best," he said. He added that Chelsea would have to drop some points to open the gates for other teams, "We really need Chelsea to drop points now if we're going to catch them. But all the top teams are saying that, Liverpool and Arsenal and everybody."

Match Details
Referee: R Styles (Hampshire)

Manchester United: Van der Sar, Neville, Ferdinand, Silvestre, Richardson (Rossi 79), Park (Ronaldo 64), Smith (Fletcher 74), Scholes, Giggs, Rooney, Saha.

Everton: Wright, Hibbert, Yobo, Weir, Nuno Valente, Osman, Davies, Neville, Kilbane, Beattie (Ferguson 87), McFadden (Bent 81)

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