THE COCKNEY REDS of SALFORD 1 THE TOON 1

Updated 11:20 pm bells' Sunday 27th November 2011

"SAVED BY THE FLYIN' SQUAD!"

An excellent performance from 'The Black 'n' Whites' ensured we came away from 'The Theatre of Muppets' with a creditable draw against the 'current' (but not for much langer!) leegue champions.

It was a case of 'da va ju' as far az we were concorned, az this was wor 2nd visit in 7 days to Manc-land and we heeded for one of wor fave 'haunts' from the previous week--namely 'Retro Bar' which iz tucked into one of the city centre side streets, off the beaten track where a large brekky and a pint of hooch to wash it doon with, was the forst order of the day!

A few more visits to drinkin dens 'off the beaten track' were then made, includin' a boozer that selt ST JAMES' PARK BITTER, (where a few pints were consumed 'for luck'!),  

before heedin' for Old Trafford on the 'cattle-truck train'.
(Aa say 'cattle-truck' coz it was that chocker, yi couldn't move!)

The station iz nicely positioned ootside the visitors tornstiles with a 20 yard waalk from entrance to entrance!

We played 'canny' durin' the forst half, although the home side did miss several good chances to tek the lead.
A hand baall decision in the penalty area we were attackin', wasn't given near the end of the half, which could clearly be seen by yours truelee and the rest of the 1,800 Toon fans present, but 'justice would be done' in the 2nd half (reeed on!)

Within fower minutes of the restart Man U took the lead in unfortunate circumstances when a Wayne Rooney shot deflected off two players and into the net.

THE MAIN STAND PADDOCK-
OLD TRAFFORD!

The 70,000 plus 'muppets' who had been quiet up til this point suddenly foond their voices for a few minutes but it then went back to deathly silence as the 'Toon few' ootsang them in the visitors corner.

Qwaata of an hour later,though, we were back on level torms when a controversial penalty was awarded to us by the linesman at The Stretford End, after the ref had gave a corner from a Rio Ferdinand challenge on the Toon's Ben Arfa.

SIX! Man U players then suroonded the ref and linesman to try and get the decision owertorned but the linesman who iz a Flight Sargeant in the R.A.F. , would have non of it and the ref gave the penalty much to the fury of 'Fergie' who's red face started tornin' porple on the touchline!

Demba Ba stepped up to take the spot kick to a creshendo of boos from The Stretford End but he cooly slotted the baall into the reet hand side of the goal to send the 1,800 Toon fans wild with delight. (justice had been done!)

More drama followed when 'Spiderman' was sent off in the 78th minute but the ten men held on thanx mainly to some heroic defendin' from Tim Krul, Steve Taylor and Danny Simpson inparticular!

Deep into injury time Man U scored, but immediately the linesman on wor side 'came to the rescue this time' and put his flag up and the goal was (thankfully!) ruled 'offside'! (ne protests this time!)

A great result on wot was NUFC's 130th borthday!----let the celebrations begin!



Attendance:75,594 (1,800 Toon fans)