Ronaldo wins it for United

Cristiano Ronaldo blasted home an 87th-minute winner as Manchester United took a massive stride towards the title with a 2-1 win at Fulham.

Trailing to Brian McBride's opener and outplayed for long periods, the best United appeared to be getting was a draw after Ryan Giggs' equaliser.

But Ronaldo had other ideas, picking up possession inside his own half, embarking on a magnificent run into the Fulham box before driving in his 16th goal of the season via a deflection.

Fulham dominated the early stages, but had only one goal to show for it as Simon Davies flashed a shot wide, Papa Bouba Diop tested Edwin van der Sar and McBride nodded into the side-netting.

That 17th-minute goal came when Van der Sar and Nemanja Vidic got themselves into a muddle, the loose ball broke to McBride and although Rio Ferdinand was well positioned to clear his shot as it bounced off the inside of the far post, there was so much spin on it Ferdinand could only help it over the line.

As has happened so often in the past, though, the concession of a goal drew United out of their lethargy.

When Henrik Larsson seized on Moritz Volz's mistake and fed Wayne Rooney, Giggs met his young team-mate's far-post cross with a volley which flew back into the corner of the goal despite being mishit after 29 minutes.

Fulham then came close to regaining the lead on the restart when Radzinski headed against the bar.

Van der Sar was well beaten then, but he made up for any blame over Fulham's goal with a trio of fine stops, two from Davies and one from McBride.

The winner United craved then finally arrived and they had a lucky escape when Van der Sar appeared to barge Heidar Helguson over and referee Peter Walton rejected Fulham's penalty appeals.