LATE goals from Antonio Valencia and Ashley Young saw Manchester United establish a five-point lead at the Premier League summitManchester City had faltered at home to Sunderland on Saturday with a 3-3 draw, and although Blackburn held out admirably for 81 minutes here, United’s quality proved too much. Valencia eventually broke through the Rovers barrier with a whipped effort bent into the far corner, before Young’s superb shot from distance wrapped up the points. It could be a pivotal result in the race for the title as Alex Ferguson’s men strengthened their grip, while Blackburn remain in the middle of the relegation battle. Unsurprisingly, United dominated possession and could have been a goal up when Wayne Rooney’s sublime ball wasn’t cleared by Grant Hanley, but Javier Hernandez skewed his shot. The Mexican striker then had his head in his hands as his shot from Valencia’s cross was just about saved by Paul Robinson before the ball crept over the line. Michael Carrick then tried his luck from the edge of the area but his curling shot was just too high as United were pushing forward whenever possible. But their willingness to attack almost proved to be their undoing as Junior Hoilett curled an excellent shot towards goal which David De Gea did well to claw away. United had a penalty claim turned down when Carrick’s shot struck Scott Dann and Patrice Evra headed the corner wide. In the last minute of the first half, Marcus Olsson was denied a spectacular opener when De Gea made a stunning one-handed stop to tip over the youngster’s drive. From the resulting corner, the Spain Under-21 star had to be alert to turn over Hanley’s header. If De Gea was laying down the gauntlet, Robinson certainly picked it up as he did brilliantly to turn Wayne Rooney’s free-kick wide after the interval. Rafael then tried his luck from distance but Robinson proved equal to that too. By now, Blackburn had reasoned that they could profit themselves. Top scorer Yakubu wasted two decent opportunities before De Gea spilled a Morten Gamst Pedersen free-kick and had to be bailed out by Ferdinand. Within a minute Pedersen had lashed home from the edge of the area, only for the goal to be ruled out because the ball had just crossed the touchline before Nzonzi pulled it back. Phil Jones was withdrawn for the ageless Ryan Giggs and it was backs-to-the-walls stuff for Rovers as United bombarded their area. Steve Kean’s men were dealing with everything that was being thrown at them and Yakubu even squandered a few half-chances. But the match-defining moment came in the 81st minute when Valencia cut inside and lashed an unstoppable curling effort across Robinson and into the far corner. Rovers were deflated and United fans began their chants of ‘We shall not be moved’ which were powered out with even more gusto when Young doubled the lead minutes later. The substitute picked up the ball on the edge of the area, turned and fired an exquisite shot into the corner to seal the win.
