27 March 2006, by Sean Gillen

Ronaldo, Rooney and Giggs turn on style for record crowd

Manchester United 3-0 Birmingham City

Manchester United continued their push for second place with a comfortable win over Birmingham at Old Trafford.

Two early goals set United on their way to a sixth consecutive victory in front of a new record Premiership crowd of 69,070.

Cristiano Ronaldo had another lively game for the home side as a particularly impressive first half United display was too much for the relegation battling side, managed by former Reds captain Steve Bruce.

United took the lead after just two minutes when a Ryan Giggs free-kick went in off the unlucky Birmingham goalkeeper Maik Taylor after hitting the post.

The goal was put down as an own goal but Giggs did score on 15 minutes after some excellent build-up play. After nutmegging a Birmingham defender, Giggs played a one-two with Wayne Rooney before coolly finishing past Taylor.

Rooney should have scored himself but was guilty of two uncharacteristic misses after good team moves, both of which involved Ronaldo. After Ryan Giggs beautifully flicked Ronaldo’s pass into Rooney’s path, the young striker screwed the ball wide of the far post with his left foot.

Pinpoint pass

Shortly afterwards, Saha found Ronaldo with a neat back heel and the former Sporting man sent a pinpoint chipped ball through to Rooney, who was again well off target when clean through on goal.

Birmingham were fortunate to go in at half time just two goals behind but the Midlands side improved in the second half as United’s tempo dropped.

Ruud van Nistelrooy was introduced for the unimpressive Saha with 15 minutes to go but the Dutchman was unable to spark United as the home side eased towards the final whistle with little effort.

Emile Heskey missed a superb chance for Birmingham, firing over from well inside the area, before Ronaldo set up Rooney to make the game safe for United.

Ronaldo Assist

After a goal spree in January and February, Ronaldo is now showing other aspects of his game, as he followed up his assist last week against West Brom by providing another for Rooney to wrap up the win in the 83rd minute.

After a long goal kick from Edwin van Der Sar, Ronaldo flicked the ball into Rooney’s path and this time, the 20-year-old provided a typically clinical finish.

After Liverpool’s win over Everton, United remain two points clear of their arch rivals in second place, with United having two games in hand. United play the first of those games on Wednesday at Old Trafford against West Ham, before traveling to Bolton for a tricky looking encounter on Saturday.


Man United:
Van Der Sar, Neville, Silvestre, Vidic, Ferdinand, O’Shea, Giggs (Fletcher, 77), Richardson (Ji-Sung Park, 39), Ronaldo, Rooney, Saha (van Nistelrooy, 73)
Yellow Cards: None

Birmingham:
Taylor, Melchiot (Tebily, 82), Latka, Cunningham, Lazaridis (Bruce, 87), Clemence, Jarosik, Johnson, Pennant, Heskey (Kilkenny, 87), Campbell
Yellow Cards: Latka (25), Jarosik (36), Pennant (46)

Goals:
[1-0] Taylor, 3 (o.g.)
[2-0] Giggs, 15
[3-0] Rooney, 83