February 12, (THEWILL) – A top four opportunity opened up for Manchester United on Saturday, but Ralf Rangnick’s charges were held to a 1-1 draw by Southampton at Old Trafford, denying them a chance to make that climb.
After a draw of the same margin at Burnley last time out, Rangnick stated his displeasure with United’s finishing, but he had few complaints when Jadon Sancho put his side ahead after just 21 minutes at Old Trafford.
United, who had two goals ruled out for offside, were unable to find a winner against Ralph Hasenhuttl’s tenacious defence, with Che Adam restoring parity only three minutes into the second half.
After Cristiano Ronaldo appeared to be on his way to opening the score after only six minutes, Romain Perraud cleared his effort off the line, then Adams bizarrely headed away from goal after Kyle Walker-Peters teed up a wonderful opportunity.
Marcus Rashford hammered over from the right following an excellent Bruno Fernandes pass, before United took the lead when Sancho tucked home from close range.
In a hectic first half, Stuart Armstrong came close with an acrobatic attempt that challenged David de Gea, while Paul Pogba’s finish was called off for offside against Ronaldo.
Following Mohamed Elyounoussi’s through-ball, Adams quickly atoned for his earlier miss with a low finish off the inside of the post, before Fraser Forster beat away from Diogo Dalot to keep the Saints level.
With 19 minutes remaining, Ronaldo believed he had restored United’s lead, but his header from Sancho’s pass from Fernandes’ free-kick was ruled out for offside, and Forster impressively parried Harry Maguire’s stoppage-time header to win Southampton a draw.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
