Man United 1 Man City 2: Super sub Aguero fires visitors to derby win... but it won't spoil Ferguson's celebrations this time

Overjoyed: Milner is congratulated by his City team-mates after breaking the deadlock.

 

How they stand: City closed the gap to 12 points on their bitter rivals at Old Trafford

Aguero. No long train of ecstatic o’s at the end this time. It wasn’t that sort of game. Sergio Aguero decided the title race with almost the last kick of the 2011-12 season, but here he merely delayed the inevitable.

He made a point, though, as did Manchester City. There is still a bit of a racket coming from next door. They still need to keep it down if Sir Alex Ferguson is going to get a good night’s sleep.

City were never going to derail Manchester United’s runaway train, of course, but they slowed it, at least. In front of an Old Trafford crowd who had come seeking revenge and, in part, a coronation, Aguero momentarily silenced the taunts and triumphalism.

One up: Sergio Aguero fired Manchester City into the lead with a wonderful strike.

Out-jumped: Vincent Kompany (left) can't keep Phil Jones' effort from ending up in the back of the net.

MATCH FACTS

Manchester United: De Gea, Rafael, Evra, Jones, Ferdinand, Giggs, Carrick, Young (Kagawa 90), Rooney (Hernandez 85), Welbeck (Valencia 80), Van Persie
Subs not used: Lindegaard, Buttner, Nani, Cleverley
Booked: Rafael, Rooney, Giggs, Valencia
Goal: Kompany 59 (og)
Manchester City: Hart, Zabaleta, Kompany, Clichy, Nastasic, Milner, Nasri (Aguero 71), Barry, Silva (Lescott 90), Y Toure, Tevez (Garcia 90)
Subs not used: Pantilimon, Kolarov, K Toure, Dzeko
Booked: Silva, Kompany, Tevez, Barry, Zabaleta
Goals: Milner 51, Aguero 78
Referee: Mike Dean
Attendance: 75, 498

United will have to wait and work for their title, maybe all the way to the end of the month, or beyond if they drop further points.

 It was a cracking winning goal, fit to decide a match of such high emotion, even if the stakes are not what they should have been. Aguero collected the ball from Yaya Toure and ran a wide arc, a pack of United players in pursuit, outstaying them all before shooting across his body past David de Gea. His low centre of gravity helps, as did staying on his feet. Aguero was losing his balance as he finished, too. It really was an exceptional effort.

And it was no more than City deserved. They had the best of the possession and, by the end, the best of the chances. It was a  performance that raised more questions than answers, however. How can a team that plays like this at Old Trafford be 12 points adrift? How, little more than a week into April, is the title already regarded as over? Why was City’s defence of their prize so poor?

‘Champions of England,’ the visitors sang, but even the die-hards realise this is a boast with an imminent expiry date. United would not require AP McCoy to bring this one home. Sylvester McCoy could probably manage it.

Maybe City’s enhanced performance was only to be expected in the circumstances. One team is cantering towards the finishing line, the other is in frantic pursuit. Even if City are only playing for pride they had more riding on this than United.

The sole way Ferguson’s players could end up feeling like losers this season is if they risked too much and ended up getting hammered at home again by their greatest rivals. And it can happen, even at elite level. United put eight past Arsenal; City put six past United.

Grimace: Jones (right) watches as Aguero hits the winning goal past David de Gea.

Bust-up: Gareth Barry (centre) confronts Rio Ferdinand (right) as tempers flare.

Getting shirty: Barry also had words with rival Ryan Giggs (centre).

Jubilation: Despite Jones' celebrations, the equaliser went down as a Kompany own goal.

Gifted: James Milner put Manchester City in the lead with a powerful drive from the edge of the area

This defeat will smart, but it does not compare to the 6-1 from last year; an afternoon so humiliating that Ferguson has not watched it since.

Ferguson put a positive gloss on proceedings after last night’s game, as well he might after reminding himself of the league table.

But behind closed doors he was probably less than complimentary, particularly towards Ryan Giggs. Of all the people to be guilty of elaborate overindulgence, it was Giggs whose momentary lapse of reason helped Manchester City take the lead.

Inside his own half, out towards the left flank, his blind attempt at a back-heel to nobody in particular succeeded only in gifting the ball to Gareth Barry, who accepted gratefully and sped towards goal.

Once in range, he fed the ball inside to Samir Nasri, who moved it on to James Milner. His shot caught a slight deflection off a desperate Phil Jones on the way to goal.

Swing when you're winning: Milner celebrated by showing the fans his golf technique.

It was enough to escape the clutches of goalkeeper De Gea, who had gone a remarkable 679 minutes without conceding a goal in the Premier League. City were always going to present his biggest test, however.

Giggs, more than any player on the field, would not have been  surprised at the consequences of his error; more that it happened at all. Even 39-year-olds get a rush of blood to the head, it seems.

Yet if this season has been one in which United have chased down their city rivals, closing the slender gap established at the end of last season, then this game was at first its tiny echo.

It took United just seven minutes to erase City’s lead. Yaya Toure conceded a free-kick on the right  which Robin Van Persie stepped up to take. To remove your best goal-scorer from the penalty box for such a grand opportunity seems foolhardy but Arsenal had the same policy. It is, in reality, testament to Van Persie’s stunning capability with a dead ball. So it proved.

Last ditch: United's Phil Jones (left) was at full stretch to nick the ball away from the incoming Carlos Tevez.

MILNER'S GOLF CELEBRATION

James Milner celebrated the opening goal at Old Trafford with a golf swing in the direction of the visiting Man City fans - in a nod to a forthcoming charity event for his foundation.
The James Milner Foundation (JMF) recently announced that its first golf day will be held at the De Vere Mottram Hall, in Cheshire on April 23. 
The evening will raise funds for the foundation, NSPCC, Help for Heroes and Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research. 
The JMF is a charity to promote healthy recreation young people in the UK, promoting opportunities in sports, in particular football, rugby and cricket.

His free-kick was stunning and quite fiendishly conceived. Fast and flat, yet swinging in viciously, it made a monkey of Joe Hart, who threw himself at it but emerged clutching thin air, and made for chaos on the goalline as bodies clashed frantically, trying for the last touch.

Jones was first to the ball but headed it sideways and benefitted from a real slice of luck as the rebound off Vincent Kompany’s back sent it into the net.

Credit Jones’s tenacity but also Van Persie’s delivery. He may not be scoring as freely as in the first half of the season, but his contribution to United’s reclamation of the title remains vast.

So this was the title decider that wasn’t; not really. What a pity. Little was ever going to be sorted here that has not been sorted already.

From here, Manchester City are not going to pull off the impossible, Manchester United are not about to become football’s Devon Loch.

This was about local bragging rights and the precise location at which United could win the title.

Gutting: Wayne Rooney (left), Michael Carrick (centre) and Robin van Persie (right) wait to kick off again.

No go: Carlos Tevez tries to flick the ball goalwards, but can't control his effort.

Early chance: Robin van Persie (centre) lets fly from inside the City area.

Big hittter: City captain Vincent Kompany stretches to nick the ball away from Van Persie.

Dispute: Pablo Zabaleta (centre) argues with referee Mike Dean after the referee blew up for half-time.

For City, worst case scenario and United could have had it wrapped up at Upton Park next week, which would have been an embarrassment. Providing both teams now keep winning, the likelier resolution is against Arsenal on April 28. Ferguson can afford to play patience.

He picked an attacking side, but clearly sent it out with the instruction to anticipate City’s keenness and play on the counter attack. It made for a high quality, balanced contest, tactical and technical, but hardly hammer and tongs.

There was plenty of fine attacking play, but little cutting edge, certainly in the first half.

Ready and waiting: Rooney takes the ball for a United corner as the City defence organise themselves

Raging: Roberto Mancini (right) was also on the pitch to complain to Dean about his timekeeping

Combative: Rooney tries to wriggle away from centre back Kompany

Welcome back: Wayne Rooney returned from injury to take on United's bitter rivals

Party time: City fans look delighted to gain revenge for the 3-2 defeat at the Etihad earlier this season

United created the one clear chance when Michael Carrick lofted the ball forward, Van Persie stayed the right side of the linesman’s flag to knock it on and Rafael clipped a neat shot past Hart but against the woodwork.

There was a skirmish at the end as Aguero confronted Rio Ferdinand for not kicking the ball out to allow treatment on David Silva — the United man was well within his rights — and a flurry of yellow cards from referee Mike Dean. But this was not the match it could have been, indeed should have been.

City needed to be playing for more than pride at this stage in the season. At least, however, they found that.

KOMPANY SEES THE FUNNY SIDE...

Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany joked that he 'can't stop scoring' after unwittingly putting the ball in his own net at Old Trafford.
The Belgium international could not prevent Phil Jones' header bouncing off the back of his head and over Joe Hart's line midway through the second half in the Manchester derby, squaring things up at 1-1.
The own goal comes just days after the centre half scored his first Premier League goal of the season against Newcastle last weekend.

And, after Sergio Aguero rifled his side to victory against the Premier League leaders, Kompany saw the funny side.
He tweeted (above): 'Can't stop scoring. Lol. Phenomenal team performance! And to our fans.. #MCFC #MCFC #MCFC #MCFC #MCFC #MCFC #MCFC!! :-)'
Kompany's team-mate Pablo Zabaleta also tweeted after the victory.
He said: 'Very proud of our team!! This is the only thing I can say now and thanks so much to the @MCFC fans for the massive support tonight!!!'

Up close: Patrice Evra (right) climbs on James Milner as the pair fight for possession.

Proud moment: Evra was joined by his son, Lenny, as Yaya Toure (back, right) chases Ryan Giggs.

In attendance: Manchester United joint chairmen Joel Glazer (right) and Avram Glazer (centre) watch with David Gill (left).

Crocked: Serbia centre back Nemanja Vidic was not part of United's squad.

Meeting of minds: Roberto Mancini (left) shakes hands with his opposite number Sir Alex Ferguson.

Friend or foe: Former United striker Tevez (left) hugs Rooney (right) before the match started.

Gloating: Home fans hold a banner to taunt their cross-city rivals ahead of the match.