Scholes keeps Man Utd in title hunt

I watched this live on ESPN... It looks like there's no hope for Man Utd but a miracle happened in the last minute of the injury time! Unbelievable... Way to go Paul Scholes! Way to go Man Utd! I was sooo happy to know that Tottemham beat Chelsea 2-1, now there 1 point of difference between Man Utd and Chelsea. Hope that Chelsea will draw or loose to Liverpool in the last match and Man Utd wins the Barclays Premier League.

Paul Scholes's 93rd-minute winner settled the Manchester derby at Eastlands on Saturday to give Manchester United a 1-0 victory that kept their title dream alive.

The veteran midfielder rose to meet Patrice Evras left-wing cross with 20 seconds remaining of the three minutes of added time and his clinical 12-yard header may yet prove costly for Manchester City as they seek fourth place and a first ever taste of Champions League football.

United manager Sir Alex Ferguson admitted defeat would have all but ended his side's hopes of a fourth straight title, although leaders Chelsea will remain four points clear with three matches to play if they beat Tottenham Hotspur later on Saturday.

"It (losing) would have made it very difficult," Ferguson told Sky Sports.
"We deserved to win the game but I couldn't see a goal coming. Towards the end, City made a bit of a charge, it got a bit open, the game, and I decided to push Scholesy forward a bit and it paid off.

"I think he was the man of the match," Ferguson added. "I thought he was absolutely fantastic."
Defeat meant City missed the chance to put distance between themselves and Tottenham, their rivals for the fourth-place finish that guarantees a spot in the qualifying rounds for next season's Champions League.

"We are very disappointed, we didn't deserve to lose," said frustrated City manager Roberto Mancini. "But this is football."

The former Italy forward added: "The crucial match will be against Tottenham here (on May 5). We have four games left and we must try to win them."

The derby's importance was not lost on both teams, which perhaps explained the slightly cautious first half, particularly from City, who defended extremely deep in an effort to stifle United.

The best chances of that opening period both fell to United and came in the final five minutes.
First, Antonio Valencia's intelligent header into the area wrong-footed the defence and found Wayne Rooney, only for the forward to smash his shot past the post from 15 yards.

Then, with half-time beckoning, Valencia again beat the recalled Wayne Bridge far too easily down the United right and delivered a low, driven near-post cross that Ryan Giggs poked tamely into the hands of Shay Given.

Those openings aside, first-half opportunities were sparse, with Edwin van der Sar required to make the only save of note when he leapt high to his right in the 12th minute to catch a direct Carlos Tevez free-kick, awarded 25 yards from goal after a foul on the Argentine striker by Darron Gibson.

Rooney, who was passed fit after recovering from the effects of his ankle injury, cut an increasingly frustrated figure.

He frequently argued with referee Martin Atkinson, a controversial late call-up to officiate the game because of his role in the first Manchester derby of the season, in which Michael Owen scored the winning goal in United's 4-3 victory after six minutes of injury time.

Craig Bellamy wasted a glorious chance on the counter for City, taking a Tevez pass in his stride only to hurry his shot into the side-netting.

At the other end, Giggs was similarly profligate with a wasteful first-time volley from an accurate Valencia cross.

But Mancini had seen enough and sent on defensive midfielder Patrick Vieira for Adam Johnson.
Finally the contest began to open up and Evra, substitute Nani and Giggs all had half-chances for United while Gareth Barry and Nigel de Jong threatened the United goal -- all in a five-minute period.

United substitute Dimitar Berbatov, on for Rooney, headed inches wide of Given's covering dive from a Gary Neville cross nine minutes from time.

Then van der Sar mishandled a corner, sparking a furious late scramble in which Vieira and Nedum Onuoha had shots blocked.