MANCHESTER: Paul Pogba capped Manchester United s thrilling fightback as the France midfielder struck in the closing moments to seal a 2-1 victory over Middlesbrough on Sunday.
\nGrant Leadbitter s second half goal put Middlesbrough on course for an unlikely win agains Jose Mourinho s side, but brilliant late strikes from Anthony Martial and then Pogba saw United earn their fifth successive league win in the most dramatic fashion.
\nUnited s gritty revival maintained their momentum heading into 2017 as they look to secure a top four finish and possibly mount a late title challenge. Middlesbrough boss Aitor Karanka was Mourinho s assistant for three years at Real Madrid and the two share a genuine friendship borne from that period between 2010 and 2013.
\nTheir relationship was, of course, placed to one side for 90 minutes in Manchester as United were looking to go unbeaten in 12 matches, a situation Middlesbrough can only dream about as they look set for a protracted battle to beat the drop this term.
\nUnited, again missing the injured Wayne Rooney, had two early corners that amounted to nothing but it was Middlesbrough who squandered the first glorious chance just three minutes in.
\nAdama Traore broke through the middle and had both Stewart Downing and Alvaro Negredo free in acres of space close to the edge of the box but he opted to shoot and embarrassingly scuffed wide.
\nUnited looked to attack repeatedly early on as Antonio Valencia and Anthony Martial threatened, but they could not really trouble Victor Valdes until the 14th minute when Pogba s stunning overhead kick hit the post from close range.
\nMiddlesbrough again showed their ability as Traore remained in heart of the action.
\nHe beat Daley Blind and delivered a fine cross that eventually landed at the feet of George Friend, whose drilled effort was well blocked by Marouane Fellaini.
\nThe game hit a lull as Middlesbrough looked strong at the back and United offered little, although one left footed Henrikh Mkhitaryan effort forced Valdes into a decent low save after half an hour.
\nUnited kept pushing and were unlucky not to take the lead just before the break.
\nFirstly, Martial rifled an effort against the post from 30 yards before Zlatan Ibrahimovic bundled the ball home past Valdes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MANCHESTER: Paul Pogba capped Manchester United s thrilling fightback as the France midfielder struck in the closing moments to seal a 2-1 victory over Middlesbrough on Sunday. Grant Leadbitter s second half goal put Middlesbrough on course for an unlikely win agains Jose Mourinho s side, but brilliant late strikes from Anthony Martial and then […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8822,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-8816","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n