Latics went into this game knowing that the pressure was off, Premier League football had already been assured and the players could go out and enjoy the last game against the Champions elect.

We had a packed house with 25,133 fans in the stadium, with quite a few thousand lingering about outside hoping to get in.

The game didn't disappoint either as Latics made life very tough for the champions elect for large parts of the game.

The first half was very even with Latics giving as good as they got. Michael Brown and Jason Koumas both had excellent chances saved by Dutch keeper Edwin Van Der Sar.

This put to bed the rumours that Steve Bruce's boys were just going to roll over to give the Championship to United.

Latics again went close to taking the lead, Marcus Bent's flicked header from Maynor Figueroa's long throw-in looking to be creeping under the bar until Van Der Sar tipped it over.

Then Boyce shot over after Emile Heskey headed an over hit Koumas corner back into the middle.

The conspiracy theories were left to Steve Bennett, who made two diabolical decisions that made a massive impact on the result of the game.

The first was to not send Paul Scholes off for two cynical fouls, firstly on Valencia which could well have seen him go on its own.

The second foul on Palacios was a definite yellow, but Steve Bennett let the red headed midfielder off with just a short chat.

His other mistake was giving a penalty to Wayne Rooney, who was allegedly brought down by Emmerson Boyce.

The Latics defender not only won the ball but had very minimal contact with Rooney once the ball was harmlessly bouncing out of play, but hey it is United.

Ronaldo calmly placed the spot kick past Kirkland to give the Reds a 1-0 half time lead

Latics did get a bit of leniency from Steve Bennet as we survived another penalty appeal when Titus Bramble challenged Paul Scholes for a loose ball close to the by-line.

Maybe the fact that Scholes shouldn't have been on the pitch anyway gave the official chance to even things up.

In the 56th minute Kirkland came to Latics' aid, reacting superbly to Wayne Rooney's low shot which he managed to turn behind.

He then saved from Carlos Tevez after a rare Paul Scharner error gave the Argentinian a free shot.

Latics should have equalised in the 69th minute as Jason Koumas' floated free-kick was met by Emile Heskey, his header though went just over the bar.

Latics could do nothing 11 minutes later as United put the game out of reach. Rooney sliding a fine pass for Giggs to run through and slot a low shot past Kirkland.

As Chelsea could only draw at Bolton, United won the League by two points; thousands of Manchester fans dangerously stormed the JJB as stewards opened the doors to let fans out.

Latics now look to August 16th when they will kick off their 4th Premier League season - who'd have thought it 30 years ago when we were being elected to the football league.

Match Report by Jason Taylor www.cockneylatic.co.uk