Manchester United sealed its seventh consecutive league victory to inch ever closer towards the club's 20th Premier League title thanks to a 1-0 victory at Sunderland. The hosts battled hard throughout but the Red Devils were ultimately comfortable and a first half own goal from Titus Bramble was all that was needed to secure the win.
Sunderland made four changes to the side that struggled to a 1-1 draw at home to Norwich. Stephane Sessegnon was declared fit to start up front alongside Danny Graham after top scorer Steven Fletcher was ruled out for the rest of the season.
Sitting pretty at the top of the Premier League, Sir Alex Ferguson rotated his squad ahead of their FA Cup quarterfinal replay with Chelsea on Monday with the likes of Rio Ferdinand, Wayne Rooney and Ryan Giggs left out.
Martin O'Neill may have been recently accused of lacking spark but his team certainly came roaring out of the blocks, forcing David de Gea into a couple of decidedly shaky clearances in the first five minutes. However, it did not take long for the visitors to assert their authority on proceedings and they could have gone ahead on 11 minutes when full back Alex Buttner bundled his way into the box only to be denied by Simon Mignolet.
Sunderland's early fire was well and truly extinguished on 26 minutes when Robin Van Persie cleverly turned away from Phil Bardsley and arrowed a shot that had been heading wide only for Titus Bramble to deflect it into his own net.
The lead could have been doubled before half-time when first Anderson burst onto a quick-fire United counter-attack but just failed to get the better of Bramble before a confident-looking Van Persie stung the hands of Mignolet with a wicked curling free kick.
For all of Sunderland’s bluster and effort there appears to be a distinct lack of both quality and confidence running through the Stadium of Light at the moment. The start of the second half proved no different to the first as some early Mackems running was let down by poor decision making in the final third, with Adam Johnson a particular culprit.
On the hour Danny Graham showed good speed to negotiate a way past Nemanja Vidic but Sessegnon could not quite get his head to the ball ahead of Jonny Evans. From the resulting corner, David de Gea confidently punched clear but clattered into Vidic in the process to leave him needing medical attention.
The hosts suddenly had some momentum and roared on by their vociferous home support, proceeded to have their best spell of the match. It was nearly capped with an equalize but Chris Smalling defended superbly to stop Graham from nodding in a Johnson cross.
With 10 minutes to play, Buttner and Van Persie were both denied again by a sprawling Mignolet save as United closed in on the three points and a tiring Sunderland could not find an equalizer despite six minutes of stoppage time.
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Man Utd go 18 points clear
Sunderland 0-1 Manchester United: Bramble own goal sees leaders grab seventh-straight league win
The Red Devils are closing in on a 20th title and comfortably took three points away from the Stadium of Light thanks to the defender's unfortunate first half intervention.
Manchester United sealed its seventh consecutive league victory to inch ever closer towards the club's 20th Premier League title thanks to a 1-0 victory at Sunderland. The hosts battled hard throughout but the Red Devils were ultimately comfortable and a first half own goal from Titus Bramble was all that was needed to secure the win.
Sunderland made four changes to the side that struggled to a 1-1 draw at home to Norwich. Stephane Sessegnon was declared fit to start up front alongside Danny Graham after top scorer Steven Fletcher was ruled out for the rest of the season.
Sitting pretty at the top of the Premier League, Sir Alex Ferguson rotated his squad ahead of their FA Cup quarterfinal replay with Chelsea on Monday with the likes of Rio Ferdinand, Wayne Rooney and Ryan Giggs left out.
Martin O'Neill may have been recently accused of lacking spark but his team certainly came roaring out of the blocks, forcing David de Gea into a couple of decidedly shaky clearances in the first five minutes. However, it did not take long for the visitors to assert their authority on proceedings and they could have gone ahead on 11 minutes when full back Alex Buttner bundled his way into the box only to be denied by Simon Mignolet.
Sunderland's early fire was well and truly extinguished on 26 minutes when Robin Van Persie cleverly turned away from Phil Bardsley and arrowed a shot that had been heading wide only for Titus Bramble to deflect it into his own net.
The lead could have been doubled before half-time when first Anderson burst onto a quick-fire United counter-attack but just failed to get the better of Bramble before a confident-looking Van Persie stung the hands of Mignolet with a wicked curling free kick.
For all of Sunderland’s bluster and effort there appears to be a distinct lack of both quality and confidence running through the Stadium of Light at the moment. The start of the second half proved no different to the first as some early Mackems running was let down by poor decision making in the final third, with Adam Johnson a particular culprit.
On the hour Danny Graham showed good speed to negotiate a way past Nemanja Vidic but Sessegnon could not quite get his head to the ball ahead of Jonny Evans. From the resulting corner, David de Gea confidently punched clear but clattered into Vidic in the process to leave him needing medical attention.
The hosts suddenly had some momentum and roared on by their vociferous home support, proceeded to have their best spell of the match. It was nearly capped with an equalize but Chris Smalling defended superbly to stop Graham from nodding in a Johnson cross.
With 10 minutes to play, Buttner and Van Persie were both denied again by a sprawling Mignolet save as United closed in on the three points and a tiring Sunderland could not find an equalizer despite six minutes of stoppage time.
Manchester United sealed its seventh consecutive league victory to inch ever closer towards the club's 20th Premier League title thanks to a 1-0 victory at Sunderland. The hosts battled hard throughout but the Red Devils were ultimately comfortable and a first half own goal from Titus Bramble was all that was needed to secure the win.
Sunderland made four changes to the side that struggled to a 1-1 draw at home to Norwich. Stephane Sessegnon was declared fit to start up front alongside Danny Graham after top scorer Steven Fletcher was ruled out for the rest of the season.
Sitting pretty at the top of the Premier League, Sir Alex Ferguson rotated his squad ahead of their FA Cup quarterfinal replay with Chelsea on Monday with the likes of Rio Ferdinand, Wayne Rooney and Ryan Giggs left out.
Martin O'Neill may have been recently accused of lacking spark but his team certainly came roaring out of the blocks, forcing David de Gea into a couple of decidedly shaky clearances in the first five minutes. However, it did not take long for the visitors to assert their authority on proceedings and they could have gone ahead on 11 minutes when full back Alex Buttner bundled his way into the box only to be denied by Simon Mignolet.
Sunderland's early fire was well and truly extinguished on 26 minutes when Robin Van Persie cleverly turned away from Phil Bardsley and arrowed a shot that had been heading wide only for Titus Bramble to deflect it into his own net.
The lead could have been doubled before half-time when first Anderson burst onto a quick-fire United counter-attack but just failed to get the better of Bramble before a confident-looking Van Persie stung the hands of Mignolet with a wicked curling free kick.
For all of Sunderland’s bluster and effort there appears to be a distinct lack of both quality and confidence running through the Stadium of Light at the moment. The start of the second half proved no different to the first as some early Mackems running was let down by poor decision making in the final third, with Adam Johnson a particular culprit.
On the hour Danny Graham showed good speed to negotiate a way past Nemanja Vidic but Sessegnon could not quite get his head to the ball ahead of Jonny Evans. From the resulting corner, David de Gea confidently punched clear but clattered into Vidic in the process to leave him needing medical attention.
The hosts suddenly had some momentum and roared on by their vociferous home support, proceeded to have their best spell of the match. It was nearly capped with an equalize but Chris Smalling defended superbly to stop Graham from nodding in a Johnson cross.
With 10 minutes to play, Buttner and Van Persie were both denied again by a sprawling Mignolet save as United closed in on the three points and a tiring Sunderland could not find an equalizer despite six minutes of stoppage time.
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