From The Touchlines

BEAT IT!: Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo and Reading’s Steve Sidwell fight for the ball in their Premiership match at Old Trafford. United won 3-2.

There is just no stopping Cristiano Ronaldo.

Days after he scored a double against Aston Villa and Wigan Athletic, he put in another brace as Manchester United finished 2006 on top with a narrow 3-2 win over Reading.

Norwegian Ole Gunnar Solskjaer also had a piece of the cake, scoring the first goal and setting up the second, before Ronaldo killed off the tie with about 15 minutes left.

But Leroy Lita put the United players on edge with a simple goal in injury time, but the goal came too little too late for the team that had drawn against Chelsea previously.

On the other hand, Chelsea were so clearly missing their skipper John Terry when they conceded a goal six minutes from time against Fulham, with the match finishing 2-2. Carlos Bocanegra was the party spoiler.

Ronaldo had begun the match with so much passion and desire, that there was not one build-up that did not involve him.

But he nearly drew first blood on six minutes when he broke free on the right, cut in and put in a shot, only to see Marcus Hahnemann blocking it.

He frayed more Reading nerves on 13 minutes when Hahnemann spilled Ronaldo’s seemingly harmless cross from the right.

It was then Reading took over, holding possession but they were found wanting in their finishing, with the absence of Stephen Hunt and Seol Ki-hyeon.

The Red Devils nearly started the ball rolling when Wes Brown’s run on the right saw him cross the ball, which was flicked into Wayne Rooney’s path by a tightly-marked Solskjaer.

But Rooney completely miskicked it and it went horribly wide.

Ronaldo also came close two minutes later, when his header from a Michael Carrick corner was again blocked by Hahnemann.

But Hahnemann was eventually beaten five minutes later when Ronaldo and Solskjaer combined to put United in the driving seat.

Ronaldo, with his fancy footwork, dazzled the Reading defence before laying in a cross which was put into the net with ease by the Norwegian marksman.

But United were brought back down to earth barely five minutes later, when Ibrahima Sonko levelled matters for Reading.

Sonko was the toast of 3,000-odd Reading fans on the road when he headed into goal beyond the onrushing Edwin van der Sar from a freekick by Nicky Shorey.

But Ronaldo nearly restored United’s lead when his header from a corner came off the crossbar. The half time score remained at 1-1.

With one eye on the New Year’s Day tie against the Magpies, Sir Alex Ferguson brought Park Ji-Sung off at half time and replaced him with veteran winger Ryan Giggs.

There was no change in the momentum, as United got into gear, with Solskjaer heading wide from Ronaldo’s cross three minutes in.

Rooney also tried his luck with a lob, but he miscalculated and the ball went wide. The cross, was provided by none other than Ronaldo.

Ronaldo was again involved when his cross was put into the sidenetting by Giggs.

But two minutes later, Ronaldo was the man in the right place at the right time.

A counter attack saw Giggs breaking clear from the left and passed the ball to Rooney, who played it wide for Solskjaer.

Solskjaer cut in and put a shot beyond Hahnemann, but it came off the post. Luckily, Ronaldo, unmarked, tucked in the rebound with 15 minutes of the second half played.

As if things could not get worse for Reading after that, it did.

Sam Sodje, who had only been on the pitch not long, was surprisingly sent off after he had allegedly pulled Rooney back, with the England striker firmly headed for goal.

Rooney had initially gone over and confronted the linesman at the far end over the offside decision against him. The referee, however, had a different view and deemed it fit to flash a second yellow on Sodje, who had only just been booked for a wild lunge on Gabriel Heinze.

Ronaldo took full advantage of that and added a second for himself and a third for United, when he beat the offside trap to slam home a close range effort, from Giggs’ cross.

That was his third double, which takes his tally to 11 goals, one behind top scorer Didier Drogba of Chelsea.

Soon after he was taken off and replaced with Darren Fletcher, with Kieran Richardson also coming on for Rooney.

In the closing stages, Carrick, Fletcher and Giggs tested Hahnemann, in search for the fourth goal. Giggs had the better chance when he beat the offside trap after being released by Richardson, but his shot was somehow beaten away.

The end was not yet in sight as Lita netted Reading’s second goal, with United centreback Mikael Silvestre left horribly exposed.

Reading pushed in injury time, but the United defence stood their ground and when the final whistle went, there was a big sigh of relief all over Old Trafford.

With the win, United maintained their position at the top going into the new year, with Chelsea dropping points yet again. They are now six points behind United.