Van der Sar saves United from derby Blues

STUART PEARCE admitted he was forced to make a hasty U-turn when Edwin van der Sar dashed Manchester City’s hopes of ending their 31-year Old Trafford hoodoo.

For one brief moment, when Andy Cole met Trevor Sinclair’s injury-time cut-back with a precision strike, Pearce thought his team had achieved a task which had proved beyond any City side in 25 previous visits to Old Trafford since 1974.

To Pearce - and Cole’s - total disbelief, Van der Sar shot across his goal to make a flying save and preserve United’s dignity if not their 100% record.