|
|
United beat Derby thanks to Yorke's hat-trick
Dwight Yorke ended his barren run in front of goal when he scored for the first time in just over two months to give Manchester United the lead against Derby at Old Trafford. Yorke last scored on January 6 against Necaxa in the Club World Championship, but he found the back of the net after 12 minutes when he charged down Mart Poom's clearance and tapped the ball into the unguarded net. Poom atoned for that blunder in the 27th minute when he saved a penalty from Paul Scholes following a foul by Malcolm Christie on Gary Neville. With United playing their fourth game in 11 days during the mad month of March, Sir Alex Ferguson took the opportunity to rest several players against relegation-threatened Derby. The United boss made six changes and Jaap Stam, Denis Irwin and Andy Cole were given the weekend off, while Ryan Giggs, Nicky Butt and Raimond Van der Gouw started on the bench. Van der Gouw will not have been pleased by his breather, as Mark Bosnich took over in goal, and it smacks more of demotion following his howler against Bordeaux on Tuesday. Scholes recovered from his hip injury to play, while Henning Berg, Phil Neville and Quinton Fortune all started for the Premiership leaders. Derby, who have won three of their six previous visits to Old Trafford, made two changes from the side which stuffed Wimbledon last Saturday and in came Stefan Schnoor and Tony Dorigo. Giorgi Kinkladze recovered from injury to play his first match in Manchester since he left City two years ago. Derby went close to opening the scoring after just 20 seconds when Rory Delap crossed from the right to Christie only for Bosnich to save the striker's shot. Back came United and Fortune shot across the Derby goal before Ole Gunnar Solskjaer - the hero of Bordeaux - curled a teasing effort from just inside the area over the bar. Solskjaer felt he should have had a free-kick on the edge of the area after he went down under a challenge from Poom, but referee Jeff Winter, who had a perfect view of the incident, gave nothing. The much-maligned Mickael Silvestre made a timely challenge on Christie as he threatened to pierce the United defence. Poom then dropped a clanger to hand United the lead after 12 minutes. Poom dallied over a clearance, which allowed Yorke to charge down his kick and then tap the spinning ball into the empty net as the Rams goalkeeper desperately tried to retrieve the situation. It was Yorke's 14th goal of the season and his first for two months. United were rolling and Tony Dorigo made a great clearance from Fortune's left-wing cross as David Beckham came rushing in at the back post. Winter rightly had a word with Christie and Neville, who were barging each other as they jostled for position for a Derby throw-in. The pair's little battle continued and Christie gave away a 27th-minute penalty when he knocked over Neville in the box. Up stepped Scholes to take the spot-kick, but the normally reliable midfielder missed as Poom saved well diving to his right. Tempers were boiling over and Derby midfielder Seth Johnson became the first player to be booked for a foul on Beckham. Poom continued his heroics in the Derby goal and on 31 minutes he made a great block from Scholes' stunning volley before he saved Solskjaer's effort from the rebound. Derby refused to lie down and they were causing United one or two fraught moments and Johnson won a corner when his drive took a deflection off Scholes. Beckham then tried to play Keane in round the side with a perfectly-weighted pass only for Poom to read the situation and beat the Irishman to the ball.
|
Click here for latest transfer news
|
|
