Blackburn Rovers 1 Manchester United 1: Record 19th title is brought home despite uninspiring away performance
Perhaps it was appropriate that the man whose goal secured the championship that saw Manchester United eclipse Liverpool was born on Merseyside during the seven long years when the title never left Stanley Park.
As he stepped up to take the pen-alty, Wayne Rooney admitted to being almost overwhelmed by nerves. "It was terrifying," he said afterwards. "I had to compose myself before taking it because there was such a long delay. The year I've had has contained so many ups and downs but this is a fantastic feeling for the fans and for ourselves."
As the penalty buried itself in the depths of Paul Robinson's net just in front of the Manchester United supporters crammed into the Darwen End, enough toilet roll came streaming down to keep the Andrex puppy happy for hours. Everyone at Ewood Park sensed it would be enough. It was a result that satisfied both teams, who played the ball among themselves for the last five minutes to create shades of the non-aggression pact between Austria and West Germany that stained the 1982 World Cup. Blackburn would have taken a draw before kick-off and it was all Manchester United required.
Though the presentation of the Premier League trophy will bedelayed until the final home game, against Blackpool next Sunday, United celebrated on the final whistle with an impromptu conga as the electronic scoreboard above them gave details of a Blackburn fan's 40th birthday. The chorus was constant: "Are you watching Merseyside?"
If Merseyside were watching, they might have concluded that this was not a championship won in the grand manner and was in emphatic contrast to the dismissal of Chelsea lastSunday that had taken United teetering to the brink of history. In truth, it was typical of a Manchester United side who away from their great fortress at Old Trafford have won as many away games as Blackpool and probably won them not as well.
The goal that settled everything came from a penalty controversially awarded when Javier Hernandez sprinted towards a gorgeous long ball from Ryan Giggs, the great common denominator of United's dozen Premier League titles, and Robinson came out to meet him. The Mexican fell and the referee, Phil Dowd, consulted his assistant before confirming the decision.
Until then the Premier League title race had been still alive, albeit on a hospital drip and with a priest at the end of the bed. There was a danger that Blackburn, whose 7-1 humiliation at Old Trafford had played no small part in Sam Allardyce's dismissal, would be left as bit-part players in their own stadium, especially when in the opening five minutes Nani directed a header on to the crossbar. It was not to last.
Perhaps it was appropriate that United should have secured their 19th championship against Blackburn. Sir Alex Ferguson had celebrated his first Premier League title, the one that proved the catalyst for everything that followed, against the same oppo-nents at Old Trafford. Then, in 1993, Aston Villa's failure to beat Oldham had made them champions without kicking a ball and most United players had left the house of their captain,Steve Bruce, as dawn was breaking over Cheshire. A few hours later, they beat Blackburn 3-1.
For much of this match, Ferguson's latest generation played as if they were consumed by genuine hangovers, with their manager acknowledging that they carried plenty of luck; not least when Martin Olsson rose above Antonio Valencia to head against the post early in the second half. United would have been two down, and in this kind of mood that deficit would probably have been beyond them.
This time last year, a goalless draw at Ewood Park had proved a terminalblock to Manchester United's pursuitof Chelsea. Here, Steve Kean's side were rather better than Allardyce's had been 12 months before, and had Olsson directed his volley that met Michel Salgado's wonderful cross-field pass slightly to his right, they would have created one of the goals of the season. The goal Blackburn scored came when Tomasz Kuszczak seemed to have tipped Brett Emerton's shot for a corner, only for Olsson to play it back in with a deep cross that saw an out-of-position Jonny Evans fail to pick up the Australian with fatal consequences.
Attendance: 29,867
Referee: Phil Dowd
Man of the match: Olsson
Match rating: 7/10
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