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Man United destroy City with Owen's injury time goal

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-09-21 09:38

LONDON: Manchester City showed a never-say-die attitude in their Sunday's derby by drawing level three times at Old Trafford, but Man United substitute Michael Owen wrecked their hope of snatching one point with a stunning goal in the stoppage time.

Manchester United's Michael Owen (L) shoots past Manchester City's Shaun Wright-Phillips (C) and Shay Given (R) to score during their English Premier League soccer match at Old Trafford in Manchester, northern England, September 20, 2009. [Agencies]

Togo ace Emmanuel Adebayor's absence due to a three-match ban weakened City's attack, but Carlos Tevez was back to the pitch after resting for two weeks because of a knee injury.

The Argentina striker was so aggressive in front of his ex-club that he stole the ball from a hesitating United keeper Ben Foster before assisting Gareth Barry to shot home in the 16th minutes. But it was only an equalizer as Wayne Rooney had put United ahead after two minutes.

Being overlooked by United boss Sir Alex Ferguson in the previous two seasons, Tevez was thirsty for the derby after joining City this Summer. But he squandered his best chance of punishing United as he stroke the post in close range on the stroke of half-time,

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United managed to claimed an early lead again when Darren Fletcher nodded in Ryan Giggs's fine cross four minutes after the break, but Craig Bellamy fired home three minutes later to snuff United joy quickly.

The defending champions then surged to attack ceaselessly, but Shay Given disappointed them by making two brilliant saves to Dimitar Berbatov's threatening headers and turned a powerful drive from Giggs over the top.

It seemed that Ferguson was quite unsatisfied with the result and he replaced Belgarian Berbatov with Owen on 77 minutes. Three minutes later, Fletcher headed home a free-kick from Giggs, but City hadn't given up yet.

In the 90th minutes, defender Rio Ferdinand's incaution gave Martin Petrov the chance to rob the ball and fed Bellamy to score at the near post.

When the derby is likely to finish in a draw, Owen carried out his magic by making a clinical finish of Giggs' pass.

The London derby was far less dramatic as Chelsea dominated the whole game against Tottenham Spur to achieve their sixth consecutive victory this term.

Ashley Cole put the Blues ahead with a low header in the 32 minutes before Michael Ballack scored the second goal and Didier Drogba wrapped it up in the second half.

Chelsea's win was marred by Drogba's late calf injury and Spurs defender Sebastien Bassong was stretched off after falling with his face down.

Besides, Everton overplayed Blackburn 3-0 and Wolverhampton took their first home victory this season by beating Fulham 2-1.