United were moments away from their second defeat in their first three Premiership matches when Smith struck deep in injury time to earn a 1-1 draw with Blackburn. (Reports: BBC, Soccernet, ManUtd.com.)
The goal—Smith’s fifth in six matches—was well struck but there was sickening element in the build-up. The replays showed Saha had handled the ball with his right hand to set it up for Smith. ESPN pundit Gerry Armstrong, the only person on the planet to think it wasn’t a hand-ball, claimed that even if it had been handball, it balanced out an unsuccessful United penalty claim when the ball struck Johansson’s arms in the box. Call me a doubting Thomas if you will but I don’t think that particular argument is going to convince Souness and the Blackburn fans.
But I don’t think anyone can argue United didn’t deserve something from this match. I missed the first 34 minutes of the match (and Dickov’s goal) due to work commitments but for the most part United dominated play without converting their possession into goals.
This was mainly due to a brilliant performance by Brad Friedel who appeared to be absolutely unbeatable today. The big American managed to stop on-target attempts by Kleberson, Smith, Ronaldo, Scholes and Saha to easily win the man-of-the-match award. He wasn’t too happy after the match—the camera caught him complaining bitterly to Souness about Saha’s, ah, hand in the goal—and I could understand why he was upset about losing the clean sheet in the manner he did.
