Manchester United - 5 (Scholes 22. 49. Smith 35. Boyce {og} 48. O'Shea 90.)
Crystal Palace - 2 (Granville 27. Kolkka 46.)
Manchester United got this game underway, and in reality none of the Palace supporters expected to come away with any of the points, but we can all live in hope, can't we?
The first time the ball came into our area as Gary Neville steered it in it was Fitz Hall that was on hand to make the clearance. Darren Fletcher tried a shot that was blocked by Gonzalo Sorondo, at the expense of a corner that Ryan Giggs sent in, and Gabor Kiraly duly saved.
Wayne Routledge sent in a corner to Palace, but Neville was there to usher the ball to safety for the home side, and then Quinton Fortune sent in a cross that was once again cleared by Fitz. Danny Granville fouled Fletcher, the referee pointed to the spot, Wayne Rooney took the spot kick, and Gabor punched the ball to safety. Phew!
Giggs sent the ball back into our area, but the ball eluded the attacking force, and a simple goal kick ensued. A corner to the home side followed that Rooney sent back in, but yet again Gabor rose and claimed the ball. Gonzalo was caught offside and Rio Ferdinand took the free kick, and shortly after a corner to Manchester was fired in by Paul Scholes. Roy Keane then got the ball, and his cross was perfect for Scholes to blast the ball into the back of the net from the centre of the area.
A foul by Mikael Silvestre on Andrew Johnson saw a free kick taken by Danny, but the ball went safe and Roy Carroll was left with a simple goal kick to get proceedings underway again. Keane fired the ball back into our area, and Fitz made a good clearance, though the ball fell to Keane once more and he blasted his effort over the top of the bar. A couple of free kicks to Palace led to a corner that was fired in by Wayne, and this time Danny got on the end of the ball, and before we realised what had happened we were back on level terms.
United got another corner, but shortly after they needed to make a substitution, replacing Fortune with John O'Shea, and suddenly all the action took place in our danger area. Keane tried a shot that was tipped over the top by Gabor, leading to a corner. This came back from Giggs, though Fitz made the clearance, but only as far as Scholes. His attempt was tipped around the corner by our hard-working keeper, but the corner came back in, this time courtesy of Scholes, and Alan Smith placed a great header into the back of the net to restore the home side's lead.
Keane tried to get the ball back into our area, but first Joonas Kolkka then Ben Watson made the clearance to keep our goal intact. Rooney was caught offside, and suddenly the half came to an end before anyone was really aware that the time was approaching.
I guess the managers held their usual pep talks, and despite the fact we were behind on the scoreboard one can only imagine that Iain Dowie was the happier of the two. He certainly would have been moments after the restart.
Once play was underway Wayne got a short pass to Michael Hughes who sent in a cross that found Joonas, and his header was perfectly placed to level the scores once again. If only we could have held this situation for a little while panic may have set in for the home side, but within a minute or so they were back in the lead once again. Rooney sent in a shot that Gabor punched away, but he was powerless to stop the returning ball that glanced off the back of Emmerson Boyce's head, and unfortunately nestled in the back of our net.
So the count so far was, Manchester missed a penalty and had to rely on us to score a goal for them in order to lead 3-2 shortly after the second half had got underway. Of course, within a minute or two they had added another, as Smith sent in a cross that Scholes had little trouble with burying his left footed shot into the back of the net.
Another corner to Palace was cleared by Keane before Giggs had another shot on goal, this time the chance being tipped round the post by Gabor. The resulting corner went nowhere, though the next effort did see Rooney try a shot that Ben had to block to avert further disaster. Giggs tried again, his shot going straight to Gabor, and as the ball came back in from Keane it was Gonzalo who cleared the area, though he conceded a corner. Neville sent that into our area, but again the defence was equal to the task, and as the ball continuously entered our area Emmerson made a good clearance, and then Fletcher sent his shot wide of the mark.
O'Shea fouled Wayne, but the free kick taken by Ben was blocked by Scholes, and shortly after Wayne tried a shot that was punched clear by Carroll. Fletcher sent in another effort that had to be cleared by Gonzalo, and the resulting corner saw Keane head the ball over the top of the bar.
Danny was booked for a foul on Fletcher, presumably for unsporting behaviour, and shortly after another corner to our hosts saw Ferdinand send his effort sailing over the top of the bar once again. Palace decided it was time for a double change, with Vassilios Lakis and Tom Soares replacing Michael and Aki Riihilahti, and almost immediately Tom hit a shot from fully 25 yards out that missed the goalmouth, but not by a lot. Rooney got the ball back into our area, but Gabor held on to the chance, whilst at the other end Emmerson fired in a cross that was blocked by O'Shea.
Gonzalo cleared the next ball that came our way before Rooney tried yet another shot that Gabor tipped round the post to safety once again. The resulting corner was cleared by the Palace defence, and as the ball came back again it was Joonas who made the clearance, as usual back helping out the defence. Palace made their final change of the afternoon, this time replacing Wayne R with Wayne Andrews, as Danny conceded a corner as he mopped up the danger once more. Tom was the next to make a clearance, as the ball sailed back into our area before Giggs was caught offside to relieve the pressure, albeit temporarily.
Scholes missed a chance that went to the left of the uprights, but as we approached injury time the pressure was building once again on the Palace defence. A corner taken by Giggs was cleared, but as the board was being shown for the few minutes of added on time United struck once again. Giggs sent the ball in, and O'Shea fired the ball into the back of the net before Palace could even blink.
Of course, some of the Palace faithful were unconcerned, "believing" we would finish the game 6-5 winners, but as there was only seconds left this seemed somewhat optimistic, even to the most one-eyed Palace supporters. The whistle went, we lifted up our spirits, and started the long trek home knowing that better things were to befall us on Boxing Day when Pompey comes visiting.
Colin Pryce
Manchester United: Roy Carroll, Gary Neville, Rio Ferdinand, Mikael Silvestre, Quinton Fortune (John O'Shea 32), Darren Fletcher, Paul Scholes, Roy Keane, Ryan Giggs, Wayne Rooney, Alan Smith.
Substitutes not used: Phil Neville, Tim Howard, David Bellion, John O'Shea, Liam Miller.
Crystal Palace: Gabor Kiraly, Emmerson Boyce, Gonzalo Sorondo, Fitz Hall, Danny Granville, Wayne Routledge (Wayne Andrews 81), Aki Riihilahti (Tom Soares 69), Ben Watson, Michael Hughes (Vassilios Lakis 69), Joonas Kolkka, Andrew Johnson.
Substitutes not used: Julian Speroni, Tony Popovic.
Attendance: 67,814
Referee: Mr S Dunn