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Wayne Rooney scored the only goal of the night from a deflection. Manchester United won the match 1-0. They lead Manchester City by 15 points at the top of the table.
With Manchester City losing to Everton , Manchester United would have hoped to win this match knowing that the title would be as good as won. They didn’t disappoint and they won a tough match against Reading 1-0 courtesy off a Wayne Rooney goal
Sir Alex sprung a few surprises in the starting line up. Vidic and Ferdinand started at the heart of the defense and the full backs were Smalling and Alex Buttner, who was making only his second start this season in the Premier League. Giggs and Anderson started and the centre of the midfield with Young and Welbeck on the wings. Rooney and Van Persie started up front.
Early into the match, the play was slow and no team created a clear opportunity in the first 15 minutes. Then, Ashley Young tried to curl in from outside the 6 yard box and it was just off target. An excellent run by Ferdinand, skipping past one player, saw him pass the ball to Rooney, whose shot from outside the box took a deflection and went into the net. United were maintaining the lion’s share of possession and Giggs did make darting runs on the wing but his crosses were intercepted before they could reach Van Persie. Young and Welbeck were interchanging flanks but they were unable to find Van Persie. He had a shot from long range straight into the hands of Reading keeper Taylor. Reading came closest to scoring through a long-range effort from Robson-Kanu which nearly missed the post.
Reading started the second half on the upper hand and United were losing possession in the first ten minutes. But United started retaining possession and kept attacking. But all this accounted for nothing as they were not able to penetrate through Reading’s defense. Reading had two attempts on goal and a few corners but United’s defense was organized, and even though Alex Buttner was having a bit of trouble with Robson-Kanu, Vidic made up for it. During a Reading corner, it looked like Vidic had intentionally pushed Mariappa down but the referee didn’t notice it. Carrick was brought on for the limping Young to bring some stability to the midfield. Later, Kagawa was brought on for Anderson but failed to make any impact. There were some nervous moments in the stoppage time but United held on. The final score was United 1-0 Reading after 90 minutes.
Even though not the best performance, it was enough to earn three points and establish an almost untouchable 15 point lead at the top of the table. With 9 games to go and a healthy 15 point lead, the title race is as good as over.
