For 80 minutes it seemed like it was going to be one of those games.
United had enjoyed a lot of possession, made a number of chances but the ball just wouldn’t go in as Blackburn remained organised in the face of United’s pressure.
At the other end of the pitch David De Gea continued to prove his worth with some eye catching saves to keep any rare Blackburn attacks at bay; a marked improvement on his last showing against them, but yet we needed goals.
Then on the 80th minute, marauding down the right Tony Valencia made the breakthrough.
He called it “50/50” but his rasping cross cum shot looked like a definite shot to me and it proved to hot for Paul Robinson to handle as it flew across the keeper into the net.
United had their breakthrough.
But the Ecuadorian wasn’t finished, and moments later he cut in off the right wing and found the recently introduced Ashley Young. The England international has been in decent goal scoring form himself recently and kept it up, turning his defender and firing a low curling shot past the helpless Robinson.
The player’s celebrations said it all as their relief poured out on the Ewood Park pitch, as a match that looked like it was set to end goalless, or even worse with Blackburn stealing the points, saw us take all 3 points.
United now hold a 5 point advantage over Man City, an advantage that could stretch to 8 before City play Arsenal on Sunday. And it looks increasingly like Sir Alex’s words will be proved true; the April 30th meeting at the Etihad may not be the title decider it had been made out to be!
Glory Glory Manchester United 🙂