Manchester United back in winning form

Press, 14 October 1985, Page 25

Manchester United back in winning form

NZPA-Reuter London The English soccer league leader, Manchester United, bounced back on Saturday to its irresistible best to beat Queen’s Park Rangers, 2-0, and stay 10 points clear of its main rivals, Liverpool and Chelsea.

The Welsh striker, Mark Hughes, and Dane Jesper Olsen were on target at Old Trafford as United notched its eleventh win in 12 first division matches after its winning sequence was interrupted by a 1-1 draw at Luton last week.

A sixtieth-minute goal by a newcomer, Steve McMahon, gave secondplaced Liverpool a 1-0 home win over Southampton, while Chelsea stayed third after toppling the champions Everton, 2-1, in an incident-packed clash at the London club’s ground. Everton’s Welsh goalkeeper, Neville Southall, was sent off and both sides missed a penalty before a resurgent Chelsea emerged victorious after its deadly strike pair of Kerry Dixon and David Speedie scored in the first half. Chelsea’s Nigel Spackman missed from the spot in the ninteenth minute and after a midfielder, Kevin Sheedy, reduced the deficit just before half-time, a striker, Graeme Sharp, squandered a chance to equalise when he missed a fifty-seventh

minute penalty. Four minutes later, Southall, having already been booked for dissent,. raced out of his penalty area to catch a long pass from Speedie. He was immediately dismissed for unsportsmanlike conduct. Southall, the 1984-85 foot-baller-of-the-year, threw down his jersey in disgust and Everton’s Welsh captain, Kevin Ratcliffe, took over in goal. Everton’s defeat sent it slipping two places to sixth. It was overtaken by Arsenal, which moved into fourth place, and Sheffield Wednesday, now fifth. Arsenal drew, 0-0, away to its London rivals, West Ham, whose goal aces Frank McAvennie and Tony Cottee — they have notched 18 between them in all competitions — were thwarted by Arsenal’s solid defence.

Third division side Read-, ing set a record by beating Newport, 2-0, for a twelfth consecutive league win, beating Tottenham’s 25-year-old mark of 11 successive victories from the start of a season.

Watford jumped three places to seventh with a 3-2 home success against Manchester City, which staged a brave second-half revival in which it pulled two goals back in seven minutes through Mark Lillis and

Neil McNab. Luther Blissett and Nigel Callaghan put Watford on course for victory by scoring midway through the first half and the England striker, John Barnes, added a third directly after the interval before City’s late jolt.

Tottenham’s match against Birmingham was postponed because of recent riots near the London club’s ground.

Hearts striker John Robertson struck the winning goal which toppled Celtic from the top of the Scottish premier division, and finished up in hospital.

A Scottish under-21 player, Robertson scored in the first half but later suffered a serious neck injury and was taken to hospital.

Hearts, eighth in the 10teain division, emerged 1-0 winners and the previously unbeaten Celtic slipped to second on goal difference behind Aberdeen. Division one: Aston Villa 1, Nottingham Forest 2; Chelsea 2, Everton 1; Ipswich 2, Newcastle 2; Leicester 2, WestBromwich 2; Liverpool 1, Southampton 0; Manchester United 2, Queens Park Rangers 0; Oxford 1, Luton 1; Sheffield Wednesday 2, Coventry 2; Watford 3, Manchester City 2; West Ham 0, Arsenal 0. Division two: Bradford 2,

Barnsley 0; Carlisle 0, Norwich 4; Crystal Palace 3, Oldham 2; Grimsby 0, Sheffield United 1; Leeds 1, Middlesbrough 0; Millwall 0, Blackburn 1; Portsmouth 1, Charlton 0; Shrewsbury 3, Huddersfield 0; Stoke 1, Brighton 1; Sunderland 1, Hull 1; Wimbledon 1, Fulham 0.

Division three: Bolton 1, Brentford 2; Bournemouth 2, Bury 1; Bristol Rovers 5, Rotherham 2; Chesterfield 1, York 0; Gillingham 2, Cardiff 0; Newport 0, Reading 2; Notts County 4, Bristol City 0; Walsall 2, Plymouth 2; Wigan 1, Blackpool 1; Wolverhampton 1, Doncaster 2. Division four: Aidershot 1, Southend 3; Burnley 0, Swindon 2; Exeter 1, Orient 1; Hereford 4, Torquay 1; Mansfield 2, Colchester 1; Peterborough 0, Northampton 5; Preston 3, Chester 6; Rochdale 1, Crewe 0; Tranmere 1, Port Vale 2; Wrexham 2, Halifax 1. SCOTTISH LEAGUE Premier division: Celtic 0, Hearts 1; Clydebank 1, Motherwell 1; Dundee United 1, Rangers 1; Hibernian 1, Aberdeen 1; St Mirren 1, Dundee 0. Division one: Airdneonians 4, Ayr 1; Brechin 1, Morton 1; Clyde 0, ’ Dumbarton 0; East Fife 1, Partick 1; Falkirk 5, Forfar 3; Hamilton I,' Alloa 2; Kilmarnock 0, Montrose 0. Division two: Albion 0, Arbroath 0; Berwick 4, Raith 4; Dunfermline 1, Meadowbank 1; Queen of South 6, Cowdenbeath 1; St Johnstone 3, East Sterling 2; Stenhousemuir 1, Stranraer 2; Stirling 0, Queen’s Park 0.