20 March 2006, by Sean Gillen

Ronaldo turns provider as United march on

West Brom 1-2 Manchester United

Cristiano Ronaldo’s good form continued as United strengthened their hold on second place with a win at relegation-battling West Brom.

After a recent goal-scoring run, the hard-working Ronaldo turned provider, setting up Louis Saha for what proved to be United’s winner at The Hawthorns.

The home side put United under pressure in the early stages and defender Curtis Davies headed wide from a Jonathan Greening corner inside the first five minutes.

United took the lead after 20 minutes when an unmarked Saha, who was again preferred to Ruud van Nistelrooy, headed in a Ryan Giggs corner.

United then took control of the game, with Ronaldo linking up well with Wayne Rooney and Louis Saha on several occasions, but were unable to increase their advantage.

Having struggled to threaten United’s goal, the home side then drew two excellent saves out of Edwin van Der Sar in quick succession. After brilliantly tipping away a Diomansy Kamara free-kick, the Dutchman reacted well to save another header from Davies from the resulting corner.

Both sides went close again before half time, with West Brom goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak saving excellently from Ryan Giggs and Junichi Inamoto shooting just wide from the edge of the area for West Brom.

Mazy runs

United dominated the second half, with Ronaldo at the centre of most of their best attacking play. The former Sporting man went on several mazy runs, one of which resulted in an excellent shot parried away by Kuszczak, and put some dangerous balls across the penalty box as West Brom struggled to contain the Portuguese winger.

Ronaldo then provided Louis Saha with his second goal of the game in the 64th minute. The 21-year-old chipped the ball through to the Frenchman, who fired past the advancing Kuszczak with his left foot to score his 9th goal in 10 starts.

United were given an uncomfortable last 10 minutes after substitute Nathan Ellington was left unchallenged to head in from a corner.

But they held on to keep their 2-point lead over 3rd-placed Liverpool; United also have 2 games in-hand. Chelsea’s shock defeat at Fulham saw United also cut their lead at the top to 12 points, having also played one game less than the champions.


West Bromwich Albion:
Kuszczak, Watson, Davies, Albrechtsen, Robinson, Wallwok, Kozak (Carter, 69), Inamoto, Greening, Kamara (Ellington, 59), Campbell (Kanu, 45)
Yellow Cards: Robinson (82)

Manchester United:
van Der Sar, Neville, Silvestre, Ferdinand, Vidic, O’Shea, Richardson (Fletcher, 89), Giggs, Rooney, Ronaldo, Saha
Yellow Cards: Richardson (41), Silvestre (51), Giggs (65)

Goals:
[0-1] Saha, 16
[0-2] Saha, 64
[1-2] Ellington, 78