FA Premiership
HULL 0
MANCHESTER UNITED 1, Gibson 24
The Sun's Neil Custis:
"Any fears an under-strength United team could not do the business were very quickly dispelled. The youngsters, four making their first league starts, and fringe seniors were by far the better side. Indeed, they could have been three up by the break."
The Mirror notes that the B-team line-up (whose squad numbers totalled 261 according to The Guardian's Daniel Taylor!) actually included some United veterans: "Gary Neville, Wes Brown, Darren Fletcher and Nani providing balance to the fringe players selected."
There was certainly nothing fringe about the 35 yard strike that saw Darron Gibson win the match for United and take the team to a whopping 90 points tally for the whole season. We linked to a dodgy YouTube of the great goal yesterday. As the Manchester Evening News concluded: "It was a strike that Cristiano Ronaldo couldn't have bettered." Praise indeed.
The mind turns to which of the Second XI has most chance of getting into the First. Judged by yesterday's performance alone Darron Gibson has a better case than Macheda but Daniel Taylor's overall verdict is very hopeful:
"Hull may need to reinvent themselves because, on this evidence, they have kept their place in the league almost by default. Brown must have been disconcerted by the manner in which his players seemed to freeze. Or maybe that is being unfair on the quality of the young players emerging from Old Trafford's seemingly endless conveyor belt of talent. Macheda and Welbeck, 17 and 18 respectively, are now trusted members of Ferguson's squad. Gibson will surely play more games next season and De Laet, a Belgian defender, did not look like a player who was struggling to get into Stoke City's reserves until his surprise transfer in January. The future at Old Trafford radiates with brightness."
Here's the final Premiership table (from the BBC):
Tim
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