Fulham 2-2 Manchester United

Posted Monday, August 23, 2010 by Goal.com

Brede Hangeland Scores At Both Ends In Late Craven Cottage Thriller

An incredible second half at Craven Cottage saw Fulham grab a late and deserved point against a Manchester United side who ran out of steam too early.

Paul Scholes' early strike summed up the fact that United dominated the early proceedings, but Simon Davies' equaliser poised the second period on a knife-edge.

Brede Hangeland put past his own 'keeper before United were awarded a late penalty that seemed set to end the game at 3-1. But David Stockdale saved Nani's effort before Hangeland redeemed himself by netting the final goal of the game right at the death.

Both teams started off lively at Craven Cottage, with the majority of possession belonging to Manchester United, with the home side trying to rely mainly on the counter attack.
As United continued to keep the ball and pushed further forward, it was only a matter of time before the deadlock was broken, and Dimitar Berbatov was unlucky not to see his name on the scoresheet as a brilliant acrobatic volley was tipped over by an even more spectacular save from David Stockdale.

However, Scholes did eventually provide the breakthrough in the 11th minute. A fantastic lay-off from Berbatov allowed the former England international to run onto and drill a low, blistering shot into the bottom left-hand corner of Stockdale’s net from 25 yards out to register his 150thgoal in all competitions for United.

But Fulham came close to an immediate response through Bobby Zamora and minutes later Javier Hernandez came close to scoring his first goal in the Premier League when he pounced on a Darren Fletcher pass to fire just wide from the edge of the area.

United goalkeeper Edwin Van der Sar then made a brilliant double-save from Fulham's Dickson Etuhu to maintain the 1-0 advantage for the Red Devils.

Fulham 2-2 Manchester United

Fulham came out at the beginning of the second half in a new set of strips and it immediately paid dividends as 10 minutes into the second half Fulham were level.

Clever work on the right flank by Damien Duff found Zamora in space in the area, his smart cut-back allowed an onrushing Davies to hammer past Van der Sar for a deserved equaliser.

The Cottagers could have found themselves in front mere minutes later as Nemanja Vidic appeared to pull down Moussa Dembele inside the area, but the referee waved away the strong penalty appeals. Soon after Nani and Zamora came close for their respective teams.

United went 2-1 up in the 84th minute when Ryan Giggs whipped in a corner for the former European champions and, with no red shirts around him, Hangeland was the victim of a nasty deflection off his knee to send the away team into the lead of the second time.

It would have been 3-1 to United just a minute later when the former English champions were awarded a penalty after Damien Duff was harshly ruled to have handled the ball inside his own area, but Stockdale was more than a match for Nani’s penalty attempt.

Then in the 90th minute Hangeland redeemed himself for the earlier own goal to jump high and power a header low past Van der Sar in goal to bring the west London side back level for the second time and to give his team a deserved share of the spoils.