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Manchester United went top of the Barclays Premier League lastnight but did so on goal difference after a controversial Lee Bowyer equaliser earned Birmingham an unlikely point.
United will feel should lead England's elite outright after Bowyer's goal appeared to follow directly from at least 2 infringements.
United had looked set to regain top spot after Dimitar Berbatov fired United to a 1-0 lead towards the hour mark. The Bulgarian was moments later denied only by a post when his shot clipped the wrong side of the upright.
Birmingham's dogged resilience in defence ensured that United were frustrated around goal and as a result Sir Alex Ferguson's side did not capatalise on their dominance of possession. Anderson, arguably in the form of his United career, carried much less threat than has recently been discerned, his passes not managing to forge a path infront of the strikers.
Neither goalkeeper needed to be at their best although an outstanding outstretched arm from Ben Foster did deny Ryan Giggs a goal when the Welshman miscued a right footed cross.
Giggs later hit the target, and may have been lucky to escpae punishment, with a flying tackle into Bowyer. This coming after the Birmingham midfielder crunched a late, ankle-high tackle on Darron Gibson.
The away side emerged from the tunnel at half time and instantly sought to correct their first half inaccuracy and defficiency. Berbatov's goal came during a spell of sustained pressure from United.
The striker nonchalantly plucked the ball out of the air and into Gibson's feet in one seemless motion. Gibson intuitively drove towards the Birmingham defence before shifting the ball back to Berbatov who struck past Foster who was beaten low and at his near post.
That the ball seemed to get stuck under Berbatov made the ensuing venomous shot all the more clinical. The league's top scorer was denied from making it 2-0 by the outside of the right post following a effective, if uncharacteritic, run at the defence.
United though, as has been the case away from Old Trafford this season, were not home and dry and failed to consilidate the three points.
Nikola Zigic, who at 6' 7" dwarved Rio Ferdinand, replaced Jean Beausejour and the Blue's looked to pump the ball towards their Serbian target man.
One such loft was met by Zigic who clearly impeded Ferdinand's jumping ability by leaning with both arms. One of those limbs was then responsible for pushing the ball into the path of Bowyer who slid in to volley home.
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