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UNITED: Reserves: N'castle 1 United 1

United's league season ended with an ill-tempered draw at Newcastle, in which both sides were reduced to 10 men.

/noticias.info/ Richard Eckersley and Wesley Ngo Baheng were both sent off after a skirmish just before full-time, while all the goal action of note was confined to the first 25 minutes as Emre cancelled out Sean Evans' first-minute opener.

United got off to the best possible start, moving ahead inside 60 seconds. David Gray latched onto Tom Cleverley's superb through-ball and, although goalkeeper Frazer Forster palmed out the Scot's shot, Evans raced in ahead of everyone to slide in the rebound.

The home side were far from rocked by United's bright opening, however, and enjoyed the lion's share of possession throughout the early exchanges. Turkish international midfielder Emre was busy for the Magpies, and it was no surprise when he pulled the hosts level with a superb finish after 25 minutes.

The Turk swapped one-twos with two team-mates, before beating Gray and poking a shot past the surprised Ron-Robert Zieler, whose instinctive fingertip was not enough to keep the ball out.

Although the Magpies had regained the initiative, the game continued without any clear cut chances as both teams toiled in vain on the sprawling St James' Park pitch.

James Troisi and Andy Carroll both lashed efforts well over Zieler's bar from inside the area, but the closest call before half-time came as David Edgar smacked a superb shot just wide from 25 yards.nited started the second half in finer fettle than they had finished the first, but still struggled to forge openings without the creative influences of Danny Welbeck and Chris Eagles - both of whom were on first team duty in Rome.

The second-half's first effort of note came when Zieler had to make a solid save from Kazenga LuaLua's low shot from distance, an effort which sparked a spell of sustained pressure from United.

Club captain Gary Neville made a surging run down the right after an hour, but his pull-back found neither Federico Macheda or Evans, and Newcastle were able to snuff out the danger.

Cleverley then went close with a half-volley which flew past the top corner, but not before Zieler had produced a fine double save from Carroll and Ngo Baheng.

Macheda, having scored in his first Reserves start against the Magpies last week, burst through on goal with just under 20 minutes remaining, but overran the ball and allowed Forster to smother at his feet.

Neville continued to lend his attacking support more and more as the half wore on, and his glancing header could have snatched victory but for a last ditch block from Lamine Diatta.

From the resultant corner, Gray glanced an excellent header just over Forster's crossbar as United's toiled in vain to seek the winner their pressure had threatened.

Such was the Reds' commitment to attacking, that a Newcastle breakaway was always on the cards. When one materialised, with hree minutes remaining, Eckersley's lunging challenge to prevent LuaLua breaking into the area resulted in unseemly scenes.

The United defender was red-carded for his tackle, while subsequent scuffles saw Ngo Baheng also sent off for shoving Evans.

The Reds move up to second spot in the table, two points behind league leaders Liverpool. With three teams immediately below still carrying between three and five games in hand, however, it's unlikely that United will end the season as runners-up.

Attentions must now switch to cup duty and the potential of silverware, with a Manchester Senior Cup final and Lancashire Senior Cup final to look forward to in April.

United: Zieler; Neville, Chester, Cathcart, Eckersley; Gray, Possebon, Jones, Cleverley, S Evans; Macheda.
Subs not used: Amos, C Evans, Eikrem, Galbraith, Brady. notas_de_prensa_archivo