The Manchester United versus Manchester City derby in the English Barclays Premier League was a tense affair from start to finish, with the hosts, City, wasting possible match winners early on. Arguero could have silenced the prouder red side of Manchester, but his finishing came from the heart rather than the boot.
It took a dead ball situation and a defender to open the goals account when a Vincent Kompany thumping header nearly tore off the nets with a minute of the referee's optional time left in the first half. It proved to be a match, and potentially a championship winner as all toiled all night for naught.
The Manchester City coach tried to match the senior and revered mentor decision for decision throughout the encounter and was rewarded for reading his master well with the vital three points,maybe the biggest of his career.
United sought parity upon the restart piling pressure and pushing forward with men and mobility, and earning corner kicks and getting into vital positions. City refused to be bullied and intimidated as they pushed forward themselves to seal the deal. They kept possession much better and were a little settled and composed.
United became content shutting the back door and thwarting any further attack thrown at them. Evident desperate reactions from both sides were the order of the night as the second half got older and the match wore on. The obvious sterile attempts to thread the ball in early to the forwards by City was matched by United's thirst to defend well and feed Wayne Rooney who dropped deep either to collect balls or evade his markers.
Danny Welbeck was introduced as a replacement for the ineffective Park Ju Sung at the 58th minute to try to pry the City defence open. Smalling and Nani found themselves committing frustration-induced fouls in the midfield unnecessarily.
The hosts turned the fuel screw of the carburretor in as they sought to penetrate a negatively defensive United defence of four defenders and five linkmen. Joeleen Lescott and captain Kompany stood resolute and repelled all thrown at them, especially given an easy task of working against Rooney who fought a tough but lone battle upfront.
With a better final ball in the offensive third, the Citizens could have silenced the Red Devils for good quite early and even much later, but they delayed the party and the erratic passing in the box kept giving United hoping for the best upto the very last minute.
Midfield duels were always the contest to win as Roberto Mancini replaced the striker, Carlos Tevez with Nigel de Jong to step-up the combative battle with Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Nani and Michael Carrick in the centre of the park. It was a move meant to counter Sir Alex Ferguson's withdrawal of a midfielder by a striker, that is Park by Welbeck.
Valencia replaced Scholes as a measure of desperation. This should have increased the attacking power of Sir Alex Ferguson's side but as tackles started flying from both United and City, it was brutally going to be a blood sweat affair. de Jong and Carrick got carried away with unwarranted tackles in midfield.
As tactics became more relevant, United introduced Ashley Young for the too silent Nani as David Silver left room for right back Michael Richards in a counter-move by Mancini. At that point, the visible progress of City was too irritating for the knight in Alex Ferguson as he boxed Mancini verbally, almost physically.
With 3 minutes to go, Gael Clichy could have wrapped things up convincingly before Samir Nasri had an even better opportunity after a fine run by Yaya Toure on the left, but he took too much time on the ball. He had an option of feeding Arguero but the ball was too close to his feet making it difficult for him to release it timeously.
As would be expected in a United match, there was 5 minutes added time even though there were no injury stoppages, but that would not take away the fighting spirit out of the blue half of Manchester and it did not help. James Milner was introduced as a way to kill time and break the possible rhythm United may have been hoping for, replacing Nasri.
Patrice Evra's last minute earning of a corner gave them some hope as the last kicks involving Smalling were thwarted by Joe Hart who was fouled when the Devils hoped for a penalty.
City could never be denied their glory against United and with that, set a finale to the season-end with a potentially explosive conclusion to the title fight. The title tilted to the blue side of Manchester as all is in their hands(feet) with two matches to go.
It may boil down to how United bully Swansea and Sunderland and how brutal against Newcastle and Queen's Park Rangers will City be. Go on folks.
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