Terrace Talk

Another week and another United legend faces his old team, trying to deny them the points that would seal their destiny as champions of England. This time Steve Bruce had the limelight placed on him to honestly motivate his team, with the media having their doubts. Little would they know that what would unfold, would be a hard fought battle between two clubs from the northwest.

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The opening minutes were particularly worrying as the crowd could feel the nerves of the players, while the opposition questioned their resolve. Wigan placed five players in midfield and from the start were giving United little room. Paul Scholes was particularly wasteful, in the first half-hour and his rash challenge on Wilson Palacios only added to a first half full of frustration and drama. It would set up a key moment in the game, when United were lucky to have Steve Bennett in a less dramatic mood. Twenty minutes later, Scholes would stumble into the same man, expecting the worst from the referee. With Wigan players approaching the referee, there was a collective sigh of relief with Bennett gave Scholes a final warning.

Ronaldo may still have not fully silenced his doubters, his teams’ nervous display did not translate into Portuguese. Wayne Rooney had been fouled in the Wigan box, leaving Ronaldo the responsibility of slotting past the ex-scouse goalkeeper Chris Kirkland with ease. Maybe I was reading too much into it, but I’ve noticed that Ronaldo has scored to the right side of goal on penalty kicks since his miss in Barcelona. It is this kind of reaction that has seen him conquer adversity and skeptics questioning his mental resolve.

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United were far better in the second half, with Scholes and Carrick getting a hold of the game. They became far more consistent in possession, and had a number of chances of killing the game off if it wasn’t for Chris Kirkland who denied Ronaldo from two wonderuflly hit freekicks and then, added efforts from Rooney and Tevez to his list of impressive stops. It would take Ryan Giggs’ inclusion to make the difference and bank the title.

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United would not be denied. Scholes was replaced by Hargreaves and Ji-Sung Park made way for Giggs. Immediately the Welshman made his presence felt, stringing passes in Scholes’ absense. However, the killer moment came in the 80th minute, with Giggs making a forward run between the centerbacks and Rooney slotting the through ball in time, for a fine finish to a fantastic season.

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Then again there really was only going to be one result. Congrats to all Manchester United fans, and all fans of the beautiful game.