VIEW: United vs West Ham (a). 4-2

*LATE MATCH REPORT PART I*

#whatfuckingwhat

April 28^th, 2007.

Everton 2…..........Stubbs 12, Fernandes
50

United 4…............O’Shea 61, P.Neville og 68, Rooney 79, Eagles 90

5^th April, 2009.

United 3…..............Ronaldo 14, 80, Macheda
90

Aston Villa 2…………Carew 30, Agbonlahor 58

25^th April, 2009.

United 5…...........…Ronaldo 57, 68,
Rooney 67, 71, Berbatov 79

Tottenham 2………Bent 29, Modric 32

In order to win, there needs to be that extra level of desire.

But in the season that demands an extra surge of inspiration
from those games at the tail end, where you feel pressure mounting as the demands of
the season naturally take their toll; every final reserve, from the physical
abilities of the team to the undying passion and ability to succeed, have to be utilized.

We have done it plenty of times before (see above) and even when it looks as
though we are out, and those ignorant haters who clearly haven’t understood the
United way begin to shout their mouths off about fragile United ‘losing it’, we
continue to do it time and time again and prove everyone wrong.

At Upton Park on the 2nd April, in a similar yet more dramatic mold to the
Blackpool victory in January, we found ourselves struggling. The demands on our
season – a season that has seen us play below our potential yet has also seen
us enter April still competing strongly in three competitions – had taken its toll and as
usual, we gave ourselves an agonizing and unnecessarily complex afternoon in
East London. But we never gave up, and as a United fan growing up firmly in the
Ferguson ‘never say die’ era, I knew what was coming and daren’t panic. Well, sort of.

When West Ham went 1-0 up, through a Mark Noble
penalty that was fairly awarded through Evra’s ridiculous handball; I had no
doubts whatsoever we would get back into it. We were the better team and
the home side, struggling at the bottom, were shocking (remember the incident where Robert Green kicked the
ball directly to Valencia who was unmarked 30 yards out moments before their
penalty?). However after their second – another pen, another goal however this
time slightly more contentious – I had that same realistic
feeling I felt after we went 2-0 down at half-time against Tottenham two years
ago, and 2-1 at home to Villa with 10 minutes remaining: ‘we are actually going to
lose this’.

But low and behold, the moment I or any other United fan
begins to lose a modicum of faith (although we never really do), we show the
world how hungry and determined we really are when it comes to winning.




On 65
minutes, the seeminly impossible happened: we scored directly from a free-kick.
Rooney’s beautifully placed shot was the first of it's kind since Ronaldo left, which when
you think of who we had in line to take over – Nani, Giggs and Rooney himself –
was shocking. But the duck was finally broken, as was United's scoring in the game. And from
then on, despite West Ham’s resilience, there was no turning back.

Eight minutes later, after some great work from the ever improving Valencia, Rooney collected the ball in the area, took out the West
Ham defence with a single touch, and scored  from a powerful, precision shot with the second.

And when
Fabio’s skillful dribble was ‘rewarded’ with a penalty six minutes later – his ball
meeting the arm of Scott Parker – there was obviously only one person to take it.

3-2...when less that 15 minutes earlier we were staring
defeat in the face. Rooney’s overly passionate reaction to his hattrick has overshadowed his perfect, match-winning display (a pathetically unjustified two-match ban was the result - the same that one receives when delivering a violent, malicious elbow to the face...). But regardless of his no-show at the Cup semi-final next week, he truly was sensational. And although my excitable Tweet at the time stating how Rooney has now well and truly won over the fans was a perhaps premature (remember he could still f**k us over and leave for Citeh in the summer) it was nonetheless the sort of performance we had been yearning following his controversial contract extension. As for that reaction? I would rather our players scream 'FUCKIN' WHAT!?' down a Sky camera  in those circumstances than trudge away as if they couldn't give a shit any day.




Chico, coming on and scoring his 11th in League, topped off an amazing second half display with the fourth - with left back Ryan Giggs(!) popping up brilliantly to set him up - to finish off a real 'BELIEVE' style victory for title-chasing United.




The whole event, from the first half disappointment to the hilarious and embarrassingly old-fashioned 'Rooney the disgrace' aftermath was just electric. Traumatic, exhausting and highly emotional........but would you ever have it any other way? And after Blackburn held Arsenal 0-0 later in the day, number 19 at this point, with only seven games to go, has never felt closer.