Fergie's red-hot heroes throw the title race wide open
Kevin Keegan was rendered speechless at half-time by his Newcastle United side after the league leaders had given Manchester United a mighty pummelling at St James' Park last night.
Keegan's team had been in frightening command in the opening 45 minutes and he confessed he didn't know what to say during the interval because he couldn't find fault with any of his players.
I doubt if Reds' boss Alex Ferguson's vocal chords were enjoying the same half-time rest just down the corridor. He had to stir United up and ensure they would leave their stamp of authority on the second half.
It worked a treat and 45 minutes later the championship pendulum had swung back towards the reds.
Fergie's Verdict
"It's a real race now and we've closed it up. With Liverpool winning yesterday it is going to be an incredible finish.
In the first half they were far, far the better side. We were nervous at the back, Peter Schmeichel made one or two great saves and to be honest I couldn't wait to get to half time.
In the second half we imposed ourselves like a Manchester United team should and started to get the ball down and play. Scoring the first goal set Newcastle back and they found it difficult after that.
Eric Cantona took his chance very well. I was really pleased with the performance from everyone in the second half.
We are in a good vein of form. The determination and team spirit is good and I just hope we don't get any more injuries. It was a blow to us losing Gary Pallister especially with Les Ferdinand's ability in the air. You worry about that but Bruce was unbelievable.
Gary Neville was a bit nervous early on but in the second half he played like Gary Neville can play and he was superb. It was a good performance from us.
We got into good scoring positions in the second half and maybe we could have taken a bit of care and scored more. But it would have been a bit unjust to Newcastle if that had happened."
Man of the Match
Steve Bruce. The Geordie defender was a defiant force on his "home" turf.
