Manchester United 3 - 1 Charlton Athletic
Saturday 10th February 2006
Old Trafford, Manchester
A goal each from Ji-Sung Park and Darren Fletcher ensured a disjointed Manchester United beat Charlton.
Park headed Patrice Evra's cross into the bottom corner on 24 minutes, after earlier being denied when Scott Carson superbly tipped over his
fierce drive. After the break United dominated without creating chances until Wayne Rooney set up Fletcher to head in.
Rooney had seen his shot rebound off the legs of Carson but showed great awareness to pick out Fletcher to kill the game off. Moments before that
Charlton had worried United when a cross grazed the head of defender Gary Neville and drifted narrowly wide of the post.
United, who were without Cristiano Ronaldo, lacked a ruthless edge but the Portugal winger's replacement Park made his impact felt. After shooting
wildly early on, and then seeing a fizzing shot palmed over by Carson, Park's industrious play was rewarded. Evra's deflected cross from the left
looped into the centre of the area and the South Korean out-jumped Ben Thatcher to head the ball into the bottom-right corner.
The goal knocked Charlton out of their stride - they had until then just about held their own in terms of chances and possession.
Indeed, it had taken an outstanding save from Kuszczak to prevent Darren Ambrose opening the scoring with a header, while Dennis Rommedahl fired
into the side netting after slick build-up play. Later, the Charlton side netting was ruffled by a Louis Saha shot as United began to dictate the
tempo of the match.
The catalyst for United's improvement had been a sublime piece of skill by Rooney, who showed an exquisite touch to pull the down in the area but
poked his shot wide. Charlton's cause was hardly helped when Amdy Faye was forced off injured five minutes before half-time to be replaced by
debutant Zhi Zheng. The China captain slashed a shot across goal just after the interval as he tried to establish himself in the match. But the
visitors could barely get out of their own half after that as United assumed full control.
But the hosts created nothing until a lightning-quick break almost caught Charlton cold, when Saha exchanged passes with Rooney but the Frenchman
scuffed his shot. Then late on, Fletcher headed in to seal a win that was comfortable but not comprehensive.
Man Utd: Kuszczak, Neville, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Fletcher, Scholes, Giggs (Larsson 63), Park, Rooney, Saha (Richardson 81).
Subs Not Used: Heaton, Brown, Silvestre.
Goals: Park 24, Fletcher 82.
Charlton: Carson, Sankofa, Bougherra, Diawara, Thatcher, Rommedahl, Song Billong, Holland (Hughes 73), Faye (Zheng 40), Ambrose (Lisbie 73),
Marcus Bent.
Subs Not Used: Randolph, Hasselbaink. Booked: Diawara.
Att: 75,883
Ref: M Riley (W Yorkshire).
Source: BBC
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