By Martyn Herman
LONDON, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Cracks finally appeared in Manchester
United's defensive armour on Saturday although the champions still
rolled on towards the Premier League title with a 2-1 home victory
over struggling Blackburn Rovers.
Roque Santa Cruz's first-half equaliser for Blackburn after
Wayne Rooney had put United ahead ended a record run of 14
consecutive clean sheets in the league before Cristiano Ronaldo's
firecracker free kick sealed victory after the break.
United's 10th consecutive league win, achieved despite a ragged
performance, moved them to 62 points, eight ahead of second-placed
Liverpool who face Manchester City on Sunday.
Nicolas Anelka marked the start of Dutch coach Guus Hiddink's
spell in charge of Chelsea with the only goal in a 1-0 victory at
Aston Villa. Chelsea moved above Villa into third spot but are a
distant 10 points behind United.
Villa, who had last tasted a league defeat in November, were
hoping to bolster their ambition of breaking the top-four monopoly
with a win that would have knocked Chelsea out of contention, but
were disappointing with their best effort being an Ashley Young
free kick against the crossbar.
"We had good possession, good triangles and were dangerous in
the box," Hiddink, who took over from the sacked Luiz Felipe
Scolari until the end of the season, told Sky Sports.
"The only thing we didn't do was kill the game with the second
goal and the second half we leaned back a little too much. But on
the other hand we could have scored more."
Villa have 51 points, six more than fifth-placed Arsenal who
gave a debut to record signing Andrei Arshavin in a disappointing
0-0 home draw with Sunderland. The Russian playmaker was
substituted in the second half.
Stoke City drew 2-2 with relegation rivals Portsmouth while
Middlesbrough remained in the bottom three after a 0-0 stalemate
with Wigan Athletic. Bolton Wanderers boosted their survival hopes
with a 2-1 defeat of West Ham.
RONALDO WINNER
United manager Alex Ferguson admitted his jittery side had been
given a wake-up call by Rovers who were unlucky not to get a point
after hitting the post and having a strong penalty claim turned
down.
"We just deserved it, no more than just," Ferguson told Setanta
Sport. "We gave away a bad goal and that was not indicative of our
performances recently.
"They made it a real fight for us. This was a great lesson
today, it just shows what this league is like."
United badly missed Edwin van der Sar in goal and Nemanja Vidic
at the heart of their defence, both of whom were rested.
Rooney struck early with a close-range finish but Rovers stunned
the Old Trafford crowd when Santa Cruz nudged the ball past keeper
Tomasz Kuszczak and rolled it into the net from a tight angle.
United defender Jonny Evans had a headed goal unluckily
disallowed by referee Howard Webb just before halftime while
Rovers' Ryan Nelsen stabbed a shot against the post shortly after
the interval.
United were not themselves, but Ronaldo can usually be relied
upon to provide some inspiration and he did it again on the hour
when he whipped a fierce free kick past the flailing arms of Rovers
keeper Paul Robinson.
Rovers manager Sam Allardyce was annoyed that Ronaldo had
escaped a possible sending off for a kick at David Dunn moments
earlier and enraged when his side were denied a late penalty after
Morten Gamst Pedersen was pulled back by United's young right back
Rafael. (Editing by Rex Gowar)
