Ronaldo strikes again as United go six clear
The Portuguese ace is favourite to win the player of the year prize
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Saturday, 30, Dec 2006 08:27
A brace from Cristiano Ronaldo led Manchester United to a 3-2 win over ten-man Reading at Old Trafford as the title race took another dramatic twist.
Rivals Chelsea were held to a 2-2 draw with Fulham which means United will go into 2007 six points ahead of the Blues.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had given the Red Devils the lead which was cancelled out by Ibrahima Sonko five minutes later.
Ronaldo made it 12 for the season with a second-half brace for his sixth goal in three games.
Reading's hopes of salvaging something looked to have ended when Sam Sodje was sent-off on 69 minutes but striker Leroy Lita made it 3-2 in the 90th minute.
United dominated the first-half with Reading goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann producing a string of fine saves.
On 28 minutes, the American shot-stopper kept out Ronaldo's venomous drive with Solskjaer putting the rebound wide.
The same pair combined on 33 minutes with Solskjaer heading home Ronaldo's pinpoint cross to opening the scoring.
Five minutes later, a terrible blunder from goalkeeper Edwin van Der Sar allowed Sonko to sneak in a header to equalise.
United continued to press after the break and regained the lead on 59 minutes when Solskjaer's curling shot struck the post and Ronaldo was on hand to tap in the rebound.
Sodje was given his marching orders ten minutes later for two bookable offences in the space of five minutes.
Ronaldo capped off another dazzling display 13 minutes from time after finding himself free at the back post and whacked a volley past Hahnemann for his sixth goal in three games.
Despite being a man down, the Royals produced a gutsy display and reduced the deficit in the closing stages when a mistake by Mikael Silvestre allowed Lita to sneak the ball through Van Der Sar's legs.