Manchester United 4 - 4 Everton: Late drama as Man U let lead slip

Instead of setting the scene for a revenge act for their 6-1 drubbing Old Trafford, United will meet Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium on 30 April knowing they cannot afford to lose if a calamity even greater than the one that unfolded yesterday is not to take place.

Behind to Nikica Jelavic’s header, United twice established winning positions as Danny Welbeck and Nani sandwiched a Wayne Rooney double.

But Everton refused to surrender to what seemed like the inevitable defeat. Marouane Fellaini had already offered a warning before Rooney struck the 180th goal of his United career and 33rd of the season, just one short of his highest haul.

But, after Jelavic grabbed another, the hosts allowed Steven Pienaar far too much space inside the United box a couple of minutes later and the midfielder duly buried the goal that could provide the turning point in a season filled with so many amazing results.

Afterwards, Sir Alex Ferguson admitted that the match against City a week tonight is the most important derby he has known and a “title decider”.

“We’ve given them the initiative, there is no doubt about that,” said the Scot. “It makes the game at the Etihad a really important game. A decider really.

“There has been an expectancy from City that it could be their decider, but it’s our decider too.”

Ferguson was stunned by the collapse of a team that had kept six clean sheets in its previous seven games. “There were defensive lapses,” he added. “Their goals were really soft. It was a real shock for us to defend like that. It was a travesty of a result in some ways, but we made it difficult for ourselves and if you look at our history we keep doing that. We’ve thrown a game away that we should be coasting. But we didn’t so we have given ourselves a difficult task.”

Though it had been almost 20 years since Everton’s last success on this ground, this was always viewed as a key game for Ferguson and United.

With ten points from their last 12, the Toffeemen represented a formidable obstacle and the return of Pienaar merely offered more reason for optimism among the Manchester City faithful.

The Merseysiders certainly did City proud, starting on the front foot, defending stoutly and thoroughly deserving their lead when it eventually came.

Jelavic, the former Rangers striker, had already sprung the United defence once, early on, when Pienaar sent him through, but David de Gea was equal to the shot.

Leon Osman had a couple of opportunities, Sylvain Distin guided a header wide and United old boy Darron Gibson chanced his arm with a trademark thunderbolt, which flashed wide.

However, United had no answer when Tony Hibbert crossed deep from the right touchline. Jelavic won the aerial duel with Rafael at the far post, lifting his header over De Gea and just inside the goal. It was the £5.5 million man’s seventh Everton goal and sixth in six games, emphasising his status as one of the bargain buys of the season.

A wave of anxiety swept around Old Trafford as United fans feared another sizeable chunk was in danger of being carved off what, just a fortnight ago, seemed an impregnable lead.

After a couple of decidedly dodgy penalty awards involving Ashley Young over the past fortnight, it was perhaps no surprise referee Mike Jones was unimpressed when Rafael went down under Osman’s challenge, although it did appear to be a foul.

United needed to come up with something fast. And, restored to the starting line-up after a nine-match absence in place of Young, whom Ferguson insisted had not been dropped for disciplinary reasons, Nani provided it.

The Portugal winger curled over a brilliant cross from the left which dropped just over Phil Neville and perfectly for Rooney to head in.

In a sense, though, an equaliser was neither here nor there. The difference between a two or three-point lead was largely irrelevant considering City had a better goal difference. United needed three points. And, in the space of two minutes just before the hour, it seemed they had been secured.

Everton complained that Osman was down and in pain when the hosts went in front. However, they had many chances to nullify any potential danger before Nani showed admirable desire to outjump Neville on the edge of the area and nod down for Welbeck.

After side-stepping John Heitinga’s rash challenge, the youngster calmly curled a superb shot into the top corner.

Old Trafford had not stopped celebrating when Welbeck fed Nani, whose chip sailed over Howard and bounced into the empty net. It should have been all over and still seemed that way, despite Fellaini smashing home a brilliant volley, when Rooney soon struck again to restore their two-goal cushion.

In truth, the drama was only just starting. With seven minutes left Jelavic capitalised on unusual hesitancy inside the United penalty area to drive a precise shot into the bottom corner.

Even then, what happened afterwards came with jaw-dropping surprise, Fellaini creating space for himself inside the penalty area before sliding a pass through to an unmarked Pienaar, who planted a first-time shot beyond De Gea.

The bedlam of earlier had been replaced by a different kind of mayhem as United tried to get a grip on the calamity that had just unfolded. Phil Jones and Javier Hernandez were thrown on in a desperate attempt to salvage the situation. But, even in five heart-stopping minutes of injury time there was to be no final twist as Tim Howard tipped over Rio Ferdinand’s goalbound effort.

David Moyes, who introduced Scotland striker James McFadden during the second half, was proud of his players. “At 4-2, did I think we were going to get back into it? I thought it would be very tough,” said the Everton manager. “But I felt we would definitely score one more goal. It was whether there would be enough time to get an equaliser. But how many teams are going to get back into it from a position like that at Manchester United? It will make next week’s game at Manchester City a bit more tidy.”