Better late than never

Do you know any United fans who persist in leaving games at Old Trafford early? Surely by now they would have learnt their lesson.



Yes, an early dart has its advantages. You can avoid the bad traffic that’s inevitable when 75,000 people all leave at once. And the tram is nowhere near as crowded. But early leavers this season would have missed the incredible drama at the end of the Manchester derby and another chunk of heart-stopping action against Sunderland on Saturday.




One of Sir Alex’s great legacies at United will be late goals. Somehow, he infuses into his players a determination to keep going – a refusal to accept defeat. Let’s be honest though, United were poor by their very high standards on Saturday. Have you ever seen so many passes go astray? There was no fluency or thrust about United’s play. And yet, despite all those deficiencies on the day, United still emerged with a point from a game they probably should have lost. It’s not just luck – it happens far too often for that.




Steve Bruce knows that all too well. His two late headers against Sheffield Wednesday in ‘93 probably began the legend of late goals at Old Trafford. In the tunnel after the game on Saturday, Brucie looked dejected. Before the game he would have gladly accepted a point. But he left his old stomping ground unhappy at not getting all three and finally getting one over on his old boss.




Perhaps timekeeping duties should be taken away from referees. They’ve already got enough on their plates. On Saturday, a minimum of four minutes were added on at the end. During those four minutes United scored a goal so surely at least another 30 seconds or so should be added on. How much additional time did Mr Wiley allow for the United equaliser? 2 seconds. How on earth did he work that out?