United 4-3 City

By far the greatest Manchester derby I have ever seen. I was able to see only the last 25 minutes, but I am sure I didnt miss out on the drama. This is the one they are gonna talk about for years to come when they talk about derbies. This is pretty much the gold standard.

My admiration for Fletcher grows. He can raise his game for the big matches and plays at a totally different level (Remember when he scored 2 against Arsenal and pretty much single-handedly decimated them in mid-field). His second goal today was a beauty to watch - a perfect header off a perfectly-taken free kick. And 3-2 United. But that was not surprising - given that United were pressing on the City goal incessantly for about 15 minutes before that. It was only fair that United got a goal.

With 10 minutes to go and a 3-2 lead, all United had to do was shut out City. And if there is one team in the league that can stifle and soak up waves of opponents' attacks without much of a sweat, then its got to be United. And to be frank, City didnt mount a comeback of Herculean proportions. Ya, they were managing to get the ball into United's half, but didnt really have any sting. And it seemed United were safe.

And then it happened. Ferdinand, who was close to the center-line, tried to lob the ball over 2 City players to reach O'Shea ( I think). But the ball fell to an unmarked Craig Bellamy. ( I still dont know why Rio opted for that pass when there were a few safer passing options). But anyway, Bellamy used his pace well to outrun Rio. Rio did his best to cut out the angle for Bellamy. And when Bellamy was finally able to get a shot in, he had already been forced to a quite narrow angle. I really thought Foster should have been able to stop that and done better at his near post. But he didnt. And with 90 minutes on the clock, City were back on level terms - for the third time.

And the mouths were talking once again - about how United had been outplayed on the day by City (much like Del Potro had outplayed Federer in the finals of the US Open). All I thought was "Dont write United off just as yet". But to be fair, I knew that it was gonna be difficult.

Injury-time. I didnt even see how many minutes. But it couldnt be much. But Fergie did his best to extend the injury-time. Every substitution in injury-time means the clock is turned back by 30 seconds (even if the time to make the substitution isnt 30 seconds). So by substituting Ando for Carrick in injury time Fergie bought his players a few valuable seconds. But a United goal in the dying moments still seemed like a stretch - even by United's standards.

Clock was running down. Into the 5th minute of added time and United got a free-kick that looked like United last throw of the dice. Free-kick came in. And was headed back out. And I knew that the ref would blow the whistle. But he didnt!! And somehow the ball was played back into the mix. City defenders trying to stifle United attackers and United was desperately looking for an opening.

And somehow the ball fell to Owen at the edge of the box and he was surprisingly unmarked!! The next few seconds was magical as Owen craftily put the ball past Given. And it was 4-3!! In the 96th minute!!! And it was Owen who had won it for United!!

Playing City every season is like watching a kid grow up gradually. A kid with a very rich uncle in Dubai. But we still know who's daddy!!