Wayne Rooney was guilty of a glaring miss at Villa Park as Manchester United missed the chance to close the gap on Barclays Premier League leaders Chelsea and Liverpool with a 0-0 draw with Aston Villa.
Villa had received a massive confidence boost with their win at Arsenal last weekend and they were well worth a share of the spoils over the 90 minutes. United were the better side in the opening 45 minutes although clear-cut chances were at a premium.
In the second period it was Villa who looked the more likely to make the breakthrough as they hustled the visitors out of their stride for long spells with James Milner in splendid form.
Villa keeper Brad Friedel was called into meaningful action for the first time after 14 minutes to turn aside a swerving drive from Cristiano Ronaldo, who had cut inside the recalled Nigel Reo-Coker with ease.
Van der Sar went down at his left-hand post to comfortably save a 20-yard effort from Reo-Coker after he had made a powerful break from the halfway line. The game opened up more towards half-time and Ashley Young produced a superb tackle to deny Ji-Sung Park in the Villa box as the South Korean prepared to shoot after being found in space by Rooney.
Villa began the second half promisingly and Ashley Young almost caught Van der Sar out of position with a curling effort from 20 yards out which looked destined for the top corner until the Dutchman recovered to tip it over the bar. Michael Carrick's overhead kick dropped into the path of the England striker, who volleyed high and wide when he would have been expected to at least hit the target.
Sir Alex Ferguson's side pressed for a winner in the closing stages but rarely looked like finding it, completing an unusual day when none of the Premier League's so-called 'big four' could muster a goal between them.
Monday, 24 November 2008
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