Manchester United stayed hot on the heels of Leeds at the top of the table yesterday with an ultimately emphatic victory over Bradford City, though the score-line considerably flattered the home side.
For two thirds of the game the champions huffed and puffed to little avail on a glue pot of a pitch, and despite the alarming frequency with which the ball flashed across the Bradford penalty area, Matt Clarke, in the visitors' goal, rarely had a shot to save.
By the 66th minute Alex Ferguson had decided enough was enough, off the bench came Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke, and suddenly United found their cutting edge.
Quinton Fortune opened the scoring with his first goal for the club and Bradford, who had produced an infinitely courageous display, suddenly seemed to lose heart as they crumbled to further goals from Yorke, Cole and captain Roy Keane.
These were three hard-earned points that will give United some Premiership money in the bank during next month's World Club Championship in Brazil. After an awkward fixture at Sunderland tomorrow they fly out to meet Necaxa of Mexico on January 6th, and do not resume league action until the home game with Arsenal on January 24th.
Bradford had strung five men across the middle to deny the home side space, leaving Lee Mills as a lone striker up front.
For United, Beckham, Giggs and Irwin were all out injured and Yorke and Cole were substitutes. United started with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Teddy Sheringham up front, with Paul Scholes wide on the right and Fortune making his first league start on the left, and at first it seemed the home side would prosper.
United were concentrating on getting the ball out of the boggy centre and onto the wings where the going was considerably firmer and Bradford were being forced to play much of the game in their own half.
Mills had a couple of chances but poor technique let him down. As early as the fifth minute Lee Sharpe, a winner of three championship medals with United before ruthlessly being cut from the roster by Ferguson, swirled the ball across the centre-forward in space at the back of the goal only for Mills to shoot wide. Then, in the 33rd minute, Andy Myers' long pass found Mills in space in front of goal but his control let him down.
With the substitutions, off came Sheringham and Scholes, Solskjaer was shifted to the right and United immediately flicked the switch marked "maraud". Paul Myers, the Bradford left-back, suddenly found himself in the firing line as United took them apart down the right.
In the 75th minute Solskjaer crossed from the corner flag, a ruck of players moved to the near post and the South African Fortune, a £1.5 million buy from Atletico Madrid in the summer, got the vital touch and the jig was up for Bradford.
In the 80th minute Fortune, coming back from an offside position, let the ball run and Yorke sprinted through to make no mistake. Cole got his 13th league goal of the season in the 87th minute capitalising on Solskjaer long ball from the right and tucking the ball home, then Keane robbed Sharpe, broke away and put a gloss on the score-line with a characteristically crisp shot.
Manchester Utd: Bosnich, G Neville, P Neville, Stam (Wallwork 81), Silvestre, Keane, Scholes (Yorke 66), Butt, Sheringham (Cole 66), Solskjaer, Fortune. Subs Not Used: Taibi, Cruyff. Goals: Fortune 75, Yorke 79, Cole 87, Keane 88.
Bradford: Clarke, Halle, Myers (Saunders 81), McCall, Wetherall, Lawrence (Beagrie 55), O'Brien, Windass, Sharpe, Mills, Redfearn (Blake 81). Subs Not Used: Davison, Westwood. Booked: Redfearn, Halle.
Referee: P Jones (Loughborough).
