Anton own goal rescues Utd

Anton Ferdinand's dramatic own goal earned Manchester United a fortunate 2-2 draw with Sunderland at Old Trafford.

United salvage last-gasp draw

Anton Ferdinand's dramatic own goal earned Manchester United a fortunate 2-2 draw with Sunderland at Old Trafford. Sunderland looked to be heading for a famous win until Ferdinand deflected Patrice Evra's shot into his own two minutes into added time at the end of the 90 minutes. Darren Bent gave Sunderland a shock lead after just seven minutes with a crisp finish from the edge of the box. Dimitar Berbatov drew United level six minutes after the break with an acrobatic volley inside the box. Kenwyne Jones restored Sunderland's lead on 58 minutes when he rose above Ben Foster to head home Andy Reid's cross. Sunderland were reduced to ten men when former United man Kieran Richardson was sent off for a second bookable offence after kicking the ball away. The visitors looked set to hang on for the points until Ferdinand stuck out a leg to block Evra's shot only to see it fly into his own net and get United out of jail. On the back of an eight-match winning run, facing opponents who had not won at Old Trafford for more than 40 years and managed by a man in Steve Bruce who was unable to boast even a solitary success against his old boss in 12 previous attempts, it was expected to be a stroll. But Sunderland were the ones who adapted to the blustery conditions quicker. Indeed, it could have been argued United did not adapt at all. Rare are the times an opposition goalkeeper comes to this ground and gets through an entire half without having to make a save. But this was one. Craig Gordon did make one meaningful intervention, diving low to cut out John O'Shea's curling cross. Apart from that, the Scotland keeper was redundant. Anton Ferdinand, the one member of his family to start after brother Rio was consigned to the bench by Sir Alex Ferguson, produced an effective central defensive performance alongside the equally impressive Michael Turner. Yet even they must have been surprised by how little they had to do. With teenager Danny Welbeck handed only his second Premier League start, a tentative approach from one flank was to be expected. Maybe the same could also be said of Nani given his dismal display at Stoke seven days previously. The Portugal international was no better today, and this time Ryan Giggs was not on the bench to bail him out. And, in Bent, Sunderland boasted a man at the top of his game. When he made the quick dash down from Bolton, England coach Fabio Capello might not have been expecting to spend half-time thinking about whether Bent should be in his squad for the World Cup qualifiers against Ukraine and Belarus. Yet, had it not been for his decision to hand over penalty duties to Jones at Sunderland last week, he would now be top of the scoring charts.

Opener

And what a fine effort his seventh of the season was as Sunderland took the lead in only the seventh minute. He got far enough away from O'Shea during a lengthy Black Cats build-up to have room to turn away from the Irishman when Lee Cattermole played the final pass. The finish was inch perfect, giving Foster no chance. Replacing Paul Scholes at the break was a bold statement by Ferguson, which triggered an instant response. Nani was a suddenly a man inspired, twice causing confusion with direct runs, the second of which demanded a brave low save of Gordon to deny Wayne Rooney. The clearance came straight back out to O'Shea, whose curling 51st-minute cross was perfectly met by Berbatov's overhead kick, which nestled in the bottom corner. As they say when the TV picture goes down, normal service was expected to resume shortly. Instead, United conceded again. Foster, and no doubt Ferguson, who had already been incensed by a couple of Alan Wiley's decisions, will doubtless feel Jones fouled the United keeper as he rose to meet Andy Reid's cross just before the hour mark. But Foster should have been stronger in the challenge. Instead, he was shoved aside to allow Jones to head into an empty net. Thrilling late comebacks from such positions are the stuff of Manchester United legend. Probably only this knowledge kept the hosts going as, even after Kieran Richardson's needless dismissal, it never actually looked like happening. Evra refused to accept second best, though, leaving Ferdinand to beat the ground in frustration.

Manchester United	Team Statistics	Sunderland
2	Goals	2
0	1st Half Goals	1
5	Shots on Target	3
7	Shots off Target	2
8	Blocked Shots	0
15	Corners	1
12	Fouls	17
0	Offsides	1
2	Yellow Cards	2
0	Red Cards	1
80.2	Passing Success	67.6
17	Tackles	31
70.6	Tackles Success	87.1
62.3	Possession	37.7
57.6	Territorial Advantage	42.4