THEY did their best. But try as they might Albion and United just failed in
their mission.
To send Alex Ferguson off into retirement with a 21-GOAL salute!
This 10-goal thriller was the type of game which must have reminded Sir Alex
exactly where and why he fell in love with football.
For 90 minutes we witnessed a game which could have just as easily been played
in a Govan playground.
This was a match which actually had you GIGGLING like schoolkids at
times, such was the absurdity of it all.
With nine minutes left United were actually three goals up — yet they still
failed to win as second-half sub Romelu Lukaku grabbed a thrilling
hat-trick.
When the dust finally settled, the Red Devils had somehow failed to equal
their highest-ever points total of 91 — but who cared?
Even Fergie managed a smile as he took his final bow and shook his head in
disbelief at the almost comic outcome of a great game.
Baggies boss Steve Clarke had led the applause as Fergie came out to a guard
of honour by both sides at the start — with the United manager then raising
his hands skywards to salute all sides of The Hawthorns.
West Brom have never beaten United in the Premier League and, sure enough,
Fergie’s men went ahead after six minutes in their first real attack.
Alexander Buttner’s raking pass was chased down by Javier Hernandez wide on
the right. The little Mexican crossed and Shinji Kagawa burst in front of
Jonas Olsson to head past Ben Foster from close range.
Then Antonio Valencia crossed and Olsson stretched out his boot at the corner
of the six-yard box to divert it beyond Foster.
It was 3-0 on the half-hour when Buttner slammed a low shot home.
Albion managed to grab a lifeline five minutes before half-time when James
Morrison pulled one back.
Clarke sent on Lukaku for Liam Ridgewell after the interval and, within five
minutes, we had a game on our hands when the on-loan Chelsea striker made it
3-2 with a curling shot.
Four minutes later it was 4-2 as Robin van Persie slammed his 26th league goal
of the season into the roof of the net.
Fergie sent on Ryan Giggs for Tom Cleverley on the hour and three minutes
later the Welshman centred and Hernandez made it 5-2.
Then Paul Scholes was sent on for his last hurrah — and celebrated with the
game’s only booking for a trademark tackle on Claudio Yacob 14 minutes
later!
Incredibly, Albion weren’t finished. After 81 minutes Chris Brunt played in
Lukaku who beat Anders Lindegaard with a low shot.
Within 60 seconds Youssouf Mulumbu side-footed home and Lukaku sent the home
fans crazy when his header made it 5-5.
DREAM TEAM STAR MAN – LUKAKU (WBA)
WEST BROM: Foster 5, Jones 6, McAuley 6, Olsson 4, Ridgewell 4 (Lukaku
9), Yacob 5, Mulumbu 8, Dorrans 7, Morrison 7 (Fortune 4), Brunt 7, Long 7
(Rosenberg 4). Subs not used: Myhill, Popov, Dawson, Tamas.
MAN UTD: Lindegaard 4, Valencia 6, Evans 6 (Ferdinand 2), Jones 6,
Buttner 5, Anderson 7, Carrick 7, Cleverley 7 (Giggs 7), Kagawa 7 (Scholes
6), Van Persie 7, Hernandez 8. Subs not used: De Gea, Evra, Vidic, Januzaj.
Booked: Scholes.
REF: M Oliver 7