By David Hobbs
September 12 2005

Manchester United's 100% start to the Premiership season has been rocked by rivals Manchester City thanks to Joey Barton's late second-half equalizer.

Manchester United 1
Ruud van Nistelrooy 45

Manchester City 1
Joey Barton 76

City boss Stuart Pearce will be delighted with the result after the home side dominated the game while Sir Alex Ferguson has much to ponder about his starting line up for the midweek Champions League clash.

Roy Keane and Ryan Giggs were both left out of the line up after helping their countries in the World Cup Qualifiers last week. Ji Sung Park and Alan Smith took their place while Cristiano Ronaldo was left out due to the loss of his father.

United dominated the game and controlled the play but lacked the creativity and width to find the net more than once.

Ji Sung Park, playing in his first Manchester derby, had early chances turning shots across the face of goal before Ruud van Nistelrooy poked a close effort just over the bar.

City took what United had to throw at them and conceded via a controversial decision in injury time. Just as Stuart Pearce had planned his half-time team-talk, Ruud van Nistelrooy - thought to be offside - smashed home Paul Scholes' rebounded free-kick.

Into the second half and 15 minutes to go, United were still dominating and should have killed the game off.

However, the visitors' attack got the better of the solid Edwin van der Sar. The Dutchman brilliantly saved former Old Trafford star Andy Cole's attempt by was helpless as Darius Vassell's reboudn fell to Joey Barton who rounded off the move.

City could have stole the show at the end but Edwin van der Sar, United's hero so far this season, produced a magnificent finger-tip save to deny Cole again from Sinclair's cross.

Sir Alex Ferguson is thankful the Holland international saved, as the scoreline would in no way have reflected his side's decent performance. "They didn't deserve what they got, but that's football," said the Scotsman. "In the end it took a great save from Edwin van der Sar to stop Andy Cole getting the winner, which would have been a ridiculous scoreline."

Final Score: Manchester United 1 - 1 Manchester City
Att: 67,839

Manchester United: Van der Sar, O'Shea, Ferdinand, Silvestre, Heinze, Fletcher (Keane 78), Smith (Richardson 87), Scholes, Rooney, van Nistelrooy, Park (Giggs 81).
Substitutes Not Used: Howard, Bardsley.

Manchester City: James, Mills (Jihai 72), Dunne, Distin, Thatcher, Sinclair, Barton, Reyna, Musampa (Sibierski 72), Vassell (Fowler 84), Cole.
Substitutes Not Used: Weaver, Onuoha.

Refereed By: S Bennett