MANCHESTER City had to work hard but their defence held firm as they denied neighbours United victory at Old Trafford.
But even against 10-men, after Reds striker Alan Smith was sent off for a second bookable offence, the Blues had little to offer up front and rarely threatened the United goal.
United got off to a flying start and Mikael Silvestre denied a free header by what looked like a tug on his shirt and Paul Scholes then found Louis Saha with a pin-point cross but he was denied first by David James and then by Stephen Jordan.
United then had another strong penalty appeal turned down when Antoine Sibierski blocked Saha, allowing Danny Mills to clear.
City nearly caught United on the break but lone-striker Nicolas Anelka's finishing was not up its usual standard.
The traffic was nearly all one way with City rarely venturing out of their won half but a rare Blues raid saw Roy Keane yellow carded for a foul on Willo Flood and from the free-kick, Distin rose at the far post to plant a header straight at Roy Carroll.
Relieved
Carroll had to be alert as Shaun Wright-Phillips threatened to latch on to Anelka's flick while at the other end James failed to hold Ronaldo's shot and was relieved no red shirt was on hand to cash in on the loose ball.
James flapped unconvincingly at Saha's cross after the Frenchman skipped past Dunne at the start of the second-half but again escaped punishment.
City were defending heroically and Mills just got above Smith to win the ball as the United striker looked favourite to head home Neville's flick.
United split the Blues defence wide open with Ryan Giggs put clear Giggs free but with only James to beat he fired wide.
Distin then got up just to nick Giggs' cross off Saha's head and was relieved to see the ball deflect inches wide of the goal.
As United's frustration increased, Smith's reckless late challenge on Dunne earned him a second yellow card from referee Poll.
Even after that, United might have snatched a winner but Saha headed wide from six yards out.
Did City deserve the draw? Have your say.
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Great point for the lads, seat of our pants stuff though at times. Watch us lose at home to Blackburn now!. So much for United's B#50m strikeforce ha ha ha. Smith an utter disgrace.
City till I die
Yep we deserved a draw - because the red scum couldnt break us down and score - they would have been robbed if we had won - but that was the game plan - make them work hard and hope we can smash and grab - ok I spent 90 minutes with my stomach churning every time the reds broke forward - but we did everything we had to do to get that point
A well-deserved draw. Best we could hope for with the sick list. Only disappointing aspect was Anelka's inability (today) to hold up the ball and help us play in their half a bit. To his credit, Macca's customary ability to hold play up was to our advantage, and he waited for support to arrive when Nico couldn't seem to do it. Anelka might have been sulking about the poor quality of ball up to him; Macken would have understood it was his responsibility just to get on the end of any hopeful ball, and put some more pressure on that shaky Reds back line. As it was, the ball just kept coming back on our back line again and again. The defence though looked super fit and up for it, and the ref was spot on with the no-penalty decisions. A MONSTER of a man-of-the-match performance from Dunney, and Jordan was not the weak link predicted. A night to be proud to be a blue, fantastic commitment from the team - and from the City fans, who were much the louder set in spite of being well outnumbered.
The skipper and dunne were immense. If the manager had brought fowler in for the lazy anelka, then we might have even poached a goal. good result though.
I just wanna say one thing...Ref Graham Poll is a blue !!!
From what I saw it looked very much like United ran out of ideas after around about half an hour. Although a point at the swamp is meritable I only wish the Elk had been a little sharper.
What is this reporter on about. 'Even against 10 men City offered little up front'. Er, I thought they played eleven apart from the last few minutes. Another MUEN biased report?
Hey Sal, Big Bird and all you other bitter rags, did you see the scoreline? Not a win but im still happy! So much for the thrashing.
Not bad for poor little citeh!! your miserable lot couldnt beat pompey and a patchwork team which consisted of 2 rookie academy players in the starting 11 and 3 on the bench. Over 30 million quid for your strike force and not even a goal!
Shout out to Jamo and the blue back 4. You all did City proud today. It was worth getting up at 3 in the morning to watch the look on Ferguson's face.
Oh and rags:-Winning the premiership... your having a laugh.
So what if we didn't create! We got a deserved point and we played the formation I said we should play. Jordan (I hold my hands up as I said he shouldn't be risked) was superb. Man of the Match was Dunne. Everybody worked hard, although Anelka could have done a bit more, but a point at OT is well earned and we can't complain. Anyone go for the red card bet I suggested before the match will have come up trumps and lets get them back to COMS and show them how footballshould be played. Fantastic, well merited result! Even Sky Sports and Andy Gray had to admit we were worth a point!
Fantastic result and well deserved. Knew we could nick a point if we played 5 across and we did just that! Jordan deserves so much credit cos he had a difficult job and a lot of fans (me included) were very sceptical about playing him and he was superb. Dunne was MoM by a mile and it is just so good that we can say we are the Pride of Manchester until we beat them again at COMS in February!
The whole back 4 were magnificent. Dunne and Distin can deal with any aerial threats, although against teams Arsenal and Newcastle that play footie on the ground, Bischoff would be a better choice than Dunne. Jordan had a very good game. But he needs to work on his distribution. That can come with experience. I think Jordan should be the 1st choice left back for city now ahead of journeyman Thatcher. The only player that did not play well was MacSoftie. Save for his clearance off the line from smith, he really offered nothing for the team. Everytime he got the ball, it was only a matter of seconds before he would lose it again. He is very soft and is afraid of making challenges and getting injured. I cant wait for Barton or Sun to come back. Or perhaps we can give Jon D'laryea an extended run? Personally, having seen the kids perform so admirably over the past few games, I have absolutely no doubts about them now and i'm in favour of playing Lee Croft at left midfield in place of Siberski. City have one of the best teams at youth level and it would be a travesty if we lose them one by one, like Stephen Elliot because we dont give them a chance here. KK, have more confidence in the kids. Stop buying OAPs like Sinclair, Bosvelt, Macca, Fowler, Reyna. They will get us NOWHERE! The kids have loads of stamina, determination, grit, and a fair amount of skill. What they need is a platform to display their talents. We dont need OAPs whose bodies have taken a fair amount of battering over the decade, and no longer have the drive and determination to succeed.
Sir Alex's comments in regards to penalties not awarded, Smith's sending off and United not being good enough to win this seasons Premiership must be of concern to him, the board and their fical supporters alike. However the question that remained unanswered is how a side costing almost 200 million could'nt beat a squad of players put together at a total cost of 30 million and which contained 6 academy members. GREAT RESULT FOR BLUES SUPPORTERS
They did us proud and we can live of this "victory" for at least the rest of the week. Maybe it will have to be for the rest of the season! Whilst we battled for the point with total commitment from most of the players, there is a huge gulf in the difference of quality and class and that was there for all to see. Fortunately Saha does not have much of a brain as he only had to stay level with our square defence to have scored but he kept straying offside. The real positives were Macca who finely showed he was on the team sheet and the non stop performance of Bosvelt. The defence was again caught square too often and there really is no pace. Onuha deserves his chance now and I would play him alongisde Dunnie as Distin gets caught out of position too often. I am sure that someone will buy James some araldite for Christmas although he does keep you on the edge of your seat. I think Willo was a bit overcome by the occassion today and SWP probably chose this to be his poorest game of the season but both of them will be back. The big critiscm has to be of Sibs and the Elk. Sibs was never in the game and near the end was giving the ball away too easily and not fighting back for it. The Elk obviously had a colour blind problem as I think in the first half he passed it too them rather than to us. He also seems totally lacking in motivation at the moment which is surprising given yesterdays occasion!!!
Still the feeling is good for the week but I still fear the rest of the season.!
Great yesterday, good to see blood being spilt, total commitment. Thought Bosvelt's 'tackle' on McRonaldo was great in the first few minutes, welcome to this seasons derby soft lad!
A 0-0 draw against a mid-table team past their best is only acceptable because of the injury list. If we want to be top 6 we should be beating dross like this. Now a draw at Arsenal or Chelsea would be something to get excited about.
I hear read "even against 10 men" with reference to Smith's sending off on a few different sources.Utd had 11 players except for 5 minutes of the whole time played.Why all the alluding to it being a great loss-typical bias
Jesus Pete, Just how many of your cats did Macca run over? Please give it a rest.
Blackley Lad, NY. I am the Peter from Manchester who disagreed with you last week about MacManaman. I am NOT the Peter from Sale who is criticising him for his performance in the derby. On this occassion I thought the whole team showed a good attitude including MacManaman. Please don't shout at me! PS Enjoy your trip to CoMS next week. Hopefully we won't put in our usual after the lord mayors show type performance.
Keegan for once got it spot on tactically, except for not bringing on fresh legs in the last twenty when Bossy faded and fluffymac and Sibbo became more and more of a liability, it nearly cost us.
The back four were brilliant Dunne and Jorden were the pick and Willo and SWP ran themselves into the ground.
Well done City!
Never see so many relieved bitters leaving OT on Sunday wondering how they survived a total hammering? How can you be happy when your team played eleven keepers and encamped in your own goal are for the entire match! If this is the height of your ambition, then may I be the first to wave you goodbye as you slide down the table towards relegation.
me thinks big bird is a little upset cos the MASSIVE utd couldn't beat LITTLE ciddy
Hey Big Bird - who's bitter now.
Just like to point out three things:
1) If anyone but McManaman would have had that late shot you wouldn't even have got the draw.
2) We never play that well against the mid-table teams. We save our performances for good teams like Arsenal or Chelsea.
3) It's you going down the table - we're moving up. If we're relegation fodder and you can't beat us at home then what does that say about you. If the results go the right way next weekend you'll be in the bottom half of the table.
We should be beating teams like Utd but with the players we had at our disposal compared to the expensive list they have means we had to be happy with the result. For me we gave the ball away too easily, that invited pressure onto our back four. Luckily Utd were poor in the final third and did not make their domination of possession count. As we know its no use dominating possession if you can't score.
Graham thats the funniest post I`ve had the pleasure to write here in the world of citeh through the looking glass! With the players you have you should be beating teams like United. First man for man your players are no way on a par with us, secondly we a trohy winning team so how can you compare citeh empty trophy cabinet with ours. How can you even compare citeh to United.
Sal, Utd past tense. This seasons offering from Old Trafford doesn't look like the Utd of 3 or 4 years ago, does it to you? Can't see a trophy in that team. As for us, being 30 I'm well used to not seeing trophies so I guess what you don't have you don't miss - I'm sure it'll be nice if it happens in my lifetime but I won't bet on it. Nevertheless we are an improving side with our defence being the most improved and the high quality youngsters we have coming through. All we need is some mad rich person to sort us out!