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VIEW MATCH REPORT

Sunday 19 Mar 2006
West Brom 1 - 2 Manchester United
Saha scores 2 whilst Van Nistelrooy stays on the bench.

Louis Saha scored both goals as Manchester United strengthened their grip on second place in the Premiership with a 2-1 victory over West Brom at The Hawthorns.

The France international was on target in both halves to take his recent tally to seven goals in eight games, as United went five points clear of Liverpool, with a game in hand.

Substitute Nathan Ellington scored Albion's goal, as the Midlands side were unable to ease their relegation plight.

Saha was preferred to Ruud Van Nistelrooy for the fourth game in succession and made a quick impact, putting the visitors ahead with an accurate header from Ryan Giggs's corner in the 16th minute.

He completed the scoring with the second on 64 minutes, placing a left-foot drive past West Brom goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak after running onto a pass from Cristiano Ronaldo.

United assistant Carlos Queiroz claimed earlier in the week that Netherlands striker Van Nistelrooy remains an important part of the club's plans, but he was not brought off the bench at any stage.

After the early setback of seeing Saha aim his header above the leap of defender Paul Robinson and into the top left corner of the Albion goal, the home side tried to get back into the contest and created some scoring chances.

However, they were thwarted by United goalkeeper Edwin Van Der Sar, who made several saves to maintain his team's advantage before the interval.

After 36 minutes, Van der Sar dived acrobatically to his right to block a curling free-kick from Senegal international Diomansy Kamara that appeared to be headed for the bottom corner.

A minute later, the Dutch goalkeeper moved swiftly to his left to push away a header from Curtis Davies, who had ventured forwards for Jonathan Greening's corner.

Wayne Rooney could have put United two goals ahead just before half-time, but had the ball knocked away by Martin Albrechtsen just as he was about to shoot.

Kieran Richardson received a tremendous reception from the home support, appreciative of his efforts in helping the club to retain their Premiership status while on loan at the end of last season.

However, Richardson was booked just before half-time when referee Howard Webb pulled him up for a tackle from behind on Ronnie Wallwork as Albion tried to gain attacking momentum.

West Brom manager Bryan Robson replaced Kevin Campbell with Nwankwo Kanu at half-time and 13 minutes into the second period brought on Nathan Ellington to replace the injured Kamara.

Saha's second appeared to have set the away team on course for a comfortable victory, but after Robson made his final change, Darren Carter coming on for Jan Kozak, Ellington reduced the deficit with a strong header from Greening's corner after 77 minutes.

Richardson was replaced by Darren Fletcher in injury-time as United held on to record their 10th away league win of the season.