West Ham 2 Manchester U 2
West Ham United 2 Manchester United 2, Boleyn Ground, English Premier League, April 17, 2013. Manchester United came from behind on two occasions to earn a 2-2 draw against West Ham United at Upton Park. Ricardo Vaz Te and Mo Diame notched up the goals for The Irons, while Antonio Valencia and Robin van Persie registered for the visitors.
West Ham United went into a 1-0 lead as Three Lions international Andy Carroll knocked the ball down to Ricardo Vaz Te who headed home in the sixteenth minute of the tussle, but Manchester United managed to level the score fifteen minutes later when Shinji Kagawa squared the ball from inside the penalty area to Antonio Valencia who netted from three yards out. The Hammers took the advatange again, though, when a magnificent curling effort from Senegalese midfield motor Mohamed Diame found its way past the outstretched arms of Manchester United shot stopper David de Gea and into the back of the net ten minutes into the second half of the clash. Then, after 71 minutes of fierce action, Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson decided to replace Wayne Rooney with thirty-nine-year-old evergreen Ryan Giggs in order to inject more creativity into his team, and with the scoreboard clock ticking down The Reds had their second equaliser of the day as a ferocious shot from Kagawa hit both posts before the always dangerous Robin van Persie managed to power the ball past West Ham and Finland netminder Jussi Jaaskelainen and into the goal in the 77th minute of the game to make the final score 2-2. With Manchester City edging out Wigan Athletic 1-0 at Etihad Stadium through a late goal from former Old Trafford forward Carlos Tevez, Manchester United were now thirteen points ahead of The Sky Blues. West Ham United Team: Jussi Jaaskelainen, James Collins, Winston Reid, Guy Demel, Joey O’Brien, Matt Jarvis, Kevin Nolan, Gary O’Neil, Mo Diame, Ricardo Vaz Te, Andy Carroll. Substitutes: Emanuel Pogatetz, Matt Taylor, Jack Collison, Mark Noble, Modibo Maiga, Carlton Cole, Stephen Henderson. Manchester United Team: David de Gea, Phil Jones, Rafael da Silva, Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, Patrice Evra, Antonio Valencia, Michael Carrick, Wayne Rooney, Shinji Kagawa, Robin van Persie. Substitutes: Danny Welbeck, Javier Hernandez, Ryan Giggs, Jonny Evans, Tom Cleverley, Luis Nani, Ben Amos.
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