All square in Manchester derby

Sir Alex Ferguson
12 April 2012

Manchester United kept Manchester City at arm's length in the Barclays Premier League after a disappointing and goalless derby at Eastlands.

The result extended Sir Alex Ferguson's side's unbeaten run in all competitions to 25 games stretching back to last season.

Chances were at a premium with former United striker Carlos Tevez almost making the breakthrough with a superb free-kick in the first half that was turned away at the post by Edwin van der Sar.

One decent chance did come United's way, when one of a number of neat passing moves ended with Park Ji-sung feeding a ball into the City box for Patrice Evra to chase, but he was only unable to hit at Joe Hart.

For their part, City were equally bereft, which was frustrating for supporters, who clearly expected more of Yaya Toure who gave the ball away frequently.

It was United old-boy Tevez who came closest to breaking the deadlock though, after Paul Scholes had bundled James Milner over on the edge of the area.

Tevez quickly made it clear the free-kick would be his responsibility and only its relative lack of pace allowed Van der Sar to claw the ball out.

The pattern continued after the restart, with Dimitar Berbatov getting his clearest sight of goal, albeit with his back to it as he hooked Wes Brown's cross goalwards without being able to test Hart.

Tevez threatened twice at the other end, the first time with a shot that Van der Sar gathered easily, the second a burst that ended with a dismal miscontrol and the ball bobbling out.

It was that type of match really, with Tevez too isolated and David Silva too far below his potential for City to become the sum of their expensively-assembled parts.

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