now that's more like it.

after reading about the bore-draw in israel and getting fed up with england going into half time nil-nil with andorra (a football team made up of amateurs and part timers...), it was defnitely a pleasure to return to a weekend of epl. i was caught unawares as i thought united's game was at 11, but it turned out to be at 10, so i missed the first 10 minutes. not that i missed anything. in fact, by the time i plomped myself on the couch, nemanja vidic had to be stretchered off. bummer. there's goes our stone wall in defence. and 10 seconds after vidic leaves the field with a dislocated shoulder, derbyshire somehow scrambles in a sloppy goal for blackburn. to make matters even worse, it seemed like united had no luck at all, especially with friedel beating away united's best attacks. at half time, united had no answer.

and even for the first 10 minutes of the second half, it looked like luck had taken a break on united even as united began taking the game to blackburn. but still, united had a zero to its name.

until it happened.

paul scholes, with the ball conspiring to end up at his feet, danced through the blackburn defence like a teenager with a grace that belied his 32 years of age. jinking past one man, then two, scholesy then lashed a low drive into the left hand corner. old trafford erupted in sheer rapture as the ball bulged in the back of the net whilst the ginger prince celebrated with his teammates. the quest to extend united's dominion on the premiership this season was still on, and united looked alive in every sense. rooney went close whilst ryan giggs, who has had rotten luck with the woodwork of late, struck a venomous shot that cannoned off the crossbar and back into play with the gaping goal mouth at his mercy. the red devils were relentless as the old trafford faithful urged their team on with song.

and then the three points were earned. cristiano ronaldo, ever magnificent this season in the red and white, crossed low across the blackburn goal after some quick and intelligent approach play from a corner. the ball fizzled past brad friedel and the other blackburn defenders. only to find michael carrick, who calmly sidefooted the ball back across and into the goal. "we want our trophy back!" sang the united fans.

but it was not to be over yet. samba handled the ball at the edge of the blackburn area and ronaldo once again played creator by lashing a vicious free kick at the bottom left corner. this time, brad friedel prevented that corner of the goal from bulging, but he could only parry the shot. only to parry it to park ji-sung, and the south korean made no mistake as he poked the ball into an empty net from close range.

united controlled every ebb and flow. edwin van der sar had precious little to do in united's goal, only having needed to have gotten down once to collect a rare and tame blackburn effort.

and if the fans had not sung it loud enough for chelsea to hear, the players decided to deliver their statement of intent personally. park combined with rooney as they approached the rovers' goal area once more. park tried to return the favour, but the ball did not fall kindly for the young scouser who was being watched by stephen warnock. instead, it fell to another of the united old guard. ole gunnar solskjaer, who came on as a substitute along with alan smith, got on the end of it and finished it the same way carrick and scholes had done before him.

if only england matches were this exciting.