Quickfire Ronaldo
YEAH I DID IT AGAIN!: Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo is congratulated by teammates Mikael Silvestre and Wes Brown after scoring against Wigan Athletic. United won 3-1.
Cristiano Ronaldo did the double double when he put in two quick goals in the second half to seal a 3-1 win for Manchester United over Wigan Athletic.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer added the third before Wigan’s Leighton Baines grabbed a consolation goal with a late penalty.
United began their charge with the knowledge that Chelsea had dropped two points in their 2-2 draw against Reading in the early kickoff.
Park Ji Sung made a flying start when he let fly a powerful right footed shot that was not too far off Chris Kirkland’s goal.
But the Red Devils’ best chance of the half came five minutes later when Wes Brown cut in brilliantly from the right to gift a nice pass to Wayne Rooney, who’s almost certain goalbound effort was somehow saved by Kirkland.
Darren Fletcher, in for the injured Michael Carrick, then provided a pass, of which Rooney failed to reach four minutes later after his first touch let him down.
Rooney then blasted over the bar from close range after Paul Scholes had done well retrieving the ball from Wigan.
He was asking more questions after that when he shot narrowly wide from close range, after Fletcher had played an inch perfect cross to him down the middle.
Four minutes from the break, Solskjaer’s header from Rooney’s cross was comfortably saved by Kirkland.
The restart saw the introduction of Portuguese stalwart Ronaldo, and boy, did he have a devastating impact on the game.
The game was barely five minutes old when Ronaldo rose high and unchallenged in the area to head home Scholes’ corner.
Three minutes later, Wigan’s Gary Teale needlessly conceded a penalty after he fouled Park in the box. Ronaldo, who stepped up to take the penalty, saw the ball knocked into his path and duly slotted in the rebound.
Wigan were totally spellbound. They hardly had a shot in the first half, and then Ronaldo comes on and puts in two in quick succession.
Ten minutes later, a counter attack involving John O’Shea, Rooney and Solskjaer resulted in the Norwegian hitman sliding the ball home under the challenge of Fitz Hall.
This was after Rooney had won the battle of headers with Emmerson Boyce.
Another counter attack nearly resulted in a goal, when Solskjaer’s deft touch in his own half finds Ronaldo. Using his speed, Ronaldo moved quickly and passed the ball to Park. Park’s pass, in turn, was deflected into Rooney’s path.
But it was not to be Rooney’s night as the England forward found his shot come off the crossbar. He could have had a hat-trick of goals. Instead it was a hat-trick of misses.
Wigan had their moment too, when David Cotterill struck just wide off Edwin van der Sar’s right hand post, after he had stolen the ball from substitute Kieran Richardson’s feet.
But Wigan were handed a consolation after Mikael Silvestre appeared to have tripped a Wigan player in the box. Skipper Leighton Baines effortlessly converted from the spot.
The win extends United’s lead at the top to four points, with Chelsea having to play catch up with several key players, most notably John Terry, out with injuries.
