FEELING SMALL
Chris own goal and ref’s 100th red sinks OIe
ASHLEY YOUNG was sent off and Chris Smalling put through his own goal to dent Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Champions League hopes. Manchester United could have gone third at Molineux with a win and took an early lead through Scott McTominay.
But Diogo Jota, who
ASHLEY YOUNG became ref Mike Dean’s 100th red card victim as United missed out on the chance to go third in the table.
Young got his marching orders in the 59th minute for hacking down Diogo Jota just minutes after being booked for a foul.
Dean doesn’t need too much encouragement to add to his tally but the United defender didn’t give him much choice.
And so United’s revenge bid backfired spectacularly just over two weeks after crashing out of the FA Cup at Molineux.
It’s not a happy hunting ground for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and his men. They paid the price for a series of missed chances and then could only watch on in horror as a Chris Smalling own goal condemned them to defeat.
“Can we play you every week?” came the taunts from the home fans after Smalling got the final touch to a 77thminute loose ball which had been knocked on by Raul Jimenez.
But United had got off to a flyer in their bid for revenge for their Cup humbling.
They were in front after 13 minutes when Scott McTominay caught Wolves unawares and rifled a 20-yarder into the net. They should have gone ahead after five minutes when Diogo Dalot found unmarked Romelu Lukaku on the edge of the six-yard box but he sent his header straight at keeper Rui Patricio.
But McTominay made no mistake when he kickstarted United’s bid to leapfrog Arsenal with a cracking goal.
Fred slipped the ball across to him and he took the shot early, sweeping it beyond the diving Patricio and into the far bottom corner of the net.
United should have extended their lead in the 18th minute but Jesse Lingard seemed to be taken by surprise when Lukaku’s clever dink over the top presented him with a brilliant closerange chance.
Lingard had the whole of the goal to aim at but didn’t manage to get it away from Patricio’s clutches.
How costly those misses proved midway through the half when Wolves hit back and cashed in on a mistake by Fred. He dallied on the ball and was robbed by Joao Moutinho a few yards outside the box.
Moutinho shunted it on to Jimenez who cut the ball back for Jota to slam it past David De Gea to equalise.
Leander Dendoncker blazed over from an angle six yards.
McTominay should have scored in the 56th minute when Lukaku’s cross was helped on by Paul Pogba. He dived to meet it only to see Patricio keep his header out with a brilliant stop.
Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo kept his promise that he would not rest his star men
despite Sunday’s FA Cup semifinal clash against Watford.
But Solskjaer’s starting lineup lacked Marcus Rashford, suffering an ankle injury, and Ander Herrera.
Wolves recovered from the early setback and then started to pose problems of their own – Luke Shaw, Ashley Young and Dalot all getting yellow cards for cynical interventions.
Shaw’s booking – his 10th of the season – means he faces a two-match ban.
But when Young decided to become a repeat offender on the hour when he scythed down Jota, Dean had no hesitation pointing him towards the tunnel.