Bowyer gives stunned United draw blues

Mario Balotelli scored hat-trick as Manchester City, now level on points with United, won 4-0 at home to Aston Villa.

LONDON: Manchester United were stunned in the Premier League after Lee Bowyer’s late equaliser gave Birmingham a 1-1 draw. It seemed as if Dimitar Berbatov’s goal in the 58th minute had wrapped up all three points for United but Bowyer salvaged a share of the spoils in controversial fashion a minute from time.

There was a suspicion of handball when Birmingham’s Nikola Zigic got to Roger Johnson’s cross. The ball then rebounded to Bowyer – whom United were convinced was offside – and he slid in to score a goal for Birmingham.

“It was handball,” said United manager Sir Alex Ferguson. “If the referee can’t see that what chance have you got? It’s terribly harsh. We deserved to win, we were the better team.”

Unsurprisingly, Birmingham manager Alex McLeish had no complaints. “He wasn’t offside, definitely not,” said McLeish. “It does look as if it came off Zigic’s arm but it would’ve been harsh to be penalised as deliberate handball. In other words, I don’t care.”

Earlier Mario Balotelli scored a hat-trick as Manchester City, now level on points with United, won 4-0 at home to Aston Villa. Tottenham Hotspur displaced Chelsea in the top four after a 2-0 win to Newcastle after goals from Aaron Lennon and Gareth Bale. Fulham climbed out of the bottom three after a 2-0 win to Stoke City as Blackburn Rovers won 3-1 to West Bromwich Albion. West Ham remained in the drop zone after a 1-1 draw to Everton.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 30^th, 2010.