During the halftime break, Ferguson gave psychological counseling to the players. With more than 40 years of professional experience, he told the players that complaining is useless when the referee is partial and the opponent is rough, and he must play more calmly and smartly to win.

After the start of the second half, Manchester United reduced the midfield's pass and cut cooperation. Gao Xiaodong made more of a transit station in the middle, distributing the ball to the wing, passing it from the wing, and then heading to the goal.

This tactic is simpler, but the effect is not bad. Manchester United created consecutive shots at the beginning.

In the second minute of the second half, Giggs made a cross from the wing and Rooney grabbed the landing point, but he barely headed the ball under the interference of the opponent's defender, and the ball flew high out of the crossbar.

In the 55th minute, Hernandez passed the ball across the front of the penalty area on the wing, and Gao Xiaodong shot fury against the defender, but unfortunately the ball hit the left post and bounced out of the bottom line.

This is Manchester United's second time hitting the post. Although there was no goal, Gao Xiaodong's kick directly changed Birmingham's style of play. He did not dare to press so quickly in the midfield. The lineup contracted a little to suppress Manchester United's attack from the wing. At the same time, he replaced the 2.02-meter-high center Rikic as a bridgehead, using the tactic of long passes and rushing to fight a fast counterattack.

Birmingham head coach McCres has made great adjustments, especially when the referee favors the home team. Birmingham's simple and rough counterattack poses great threat to Manchester United. Often after Manchester United's attack fails, Birmingham immediately kicks into the frontcourt with a big foot to find his forward, Rikic, and then Rikic heads back to form a counterattack.

Although Birmingham does not invest much force in counterattacks and may not pose a great threat, Manchester United must return to their own penalty area from the opponent's penalty area, and their physical energy consumption is very large. If you continue to fight like this, physical fitness will be problematic in the last 15 minutes.

This situation is best for Manchester United to score the first goal. After scoring the goal, shrink the formation and wait for Birmingham to attack, then the initiative will be in Manchester United's hands.

After 65 minutes of the game, Ferguson took the initiative to change the lineup, replaced Hernandez and replaced Berbatov, strengthening the forward's ability to take the ball and make the ball, and improving the quality of the shot.

Ferguson's substitution effect is very good. After Berbatov came on the court, he used his skills and consciousness to constantly make goals for Gao Xiaodong and Carrick in the midfield, fully exerting Manchester United's attack power.

In the 68th minute of the game, Berbatov's heel was crossed in the middle, Gao Xiaodong took the ball and hit it across. Baba stopped the ball with his left foot and shot low at 15 meters from the near corner.

Although Birmingham's former Manchester United goalkeeper Foster was in excellent form, he was still powerless to do anything about such a shot. However, Berbatov's shot was once again blocked by the post.

Including this goal post, Manchester United has already hit three goal posts today, which made all Manchester United fans who came to watch the game sigh and scold Birmingham's goal post for his extraordinary performance.

After Berbatov scored this post, Manchester United players and fans had a bad premonition. In football matches, they had consecutive opportunities but could not score goals. In this case, the opponent often scored the goal with a counterattack.

Manchester United's premonition was not bad. In the 71st minute of the game, Roger Johnson made a diagonal pass from the right to the middle. Rikic, who came on the bench, jumped up and headed the ball. Bower suddenly rushed into the penalty area from outside the penalty area and flew into the penalty area and snatched the shot.

Gao Xiaodong had already returned to the front of his penalty area when he was attacking in Birmingham. When Bowyer stepped forward, Gao Xiaodong also chased him from behind. When Bowyer snatched the shot, Gao Xiaodong directly blocked Bowyer's shot regardless of the shot.

Manchester United's luck was also brought to his back. Bower's shot hit Gao Xiaodong and refracted it. The ball went in a direction and flew into the blind spot of the goal.

The distance was too close and the direction was still changed. Goalkeeper Van der Sar had no response and could only watch the ball fly into the goal.

1:0

After the goal, the St Andrews Stadium was instantly boiling, and nearly 30,000 fans shouted wildly to celebrate their lead in the arrogant Manchester United.

Martin, the commentator of Sky Sports, sighed: "Football is round, anything can happen. Who would have thought that Birmingham, the third-last, could break through Manchester United's goal at the doorstep. With good luck and players fighting enough, Birmingham might be able to create a greater miracle."

Birmingham's boss Yang Jiacheng finally breathed a sigh of relief. He was always worried that Manchester United would score first, so Birmingham would be in danger. Now that Birmingham scored, he had the initiative. Yang Jiacheng believed that McCrees would come up with a way to save the victory.

Seeing Birmingham score, Ferguson immediately made a substitution adjustment. Veteran Scholes came on the court and replaced Anderson in the midfield, adding midfield passes and ball handlers, freeing Gao Xiaodong out of the offense.

Ferguson's substitution achieved immediate results. Five minutes later, Manchester United passed the ball from the side, Scholes missed the ball, Gao Xiaodong volleyed, and the ball flew to the upper right corner of the goal like lightning. Goalkeeper Foster couldn't react and could only watch the ball enter the net.

1:1

Gao Xiaodong made up for his mistakes and equalized the score for Manchester United.

In the VIP box, Yang Jiacheng's secretary said dissatisfiedly: "Boss, Gao Xiaodong really doesn't give you any face."

Yang Jiacheng looked calm and said, "This is Manchester United, and a point is also a good result."

The secretary said: "But if Gao Xiaodong doesn't score, we have the hope of getting three points."

Yang Jiacheng said coldly: "If you were Gao Xiaodong, would you show mercy?"

The secretary stopped talking.

After Manchester United equalized the score, morale was high and they launched a fierce counterattack towards Birmingham. At this moment, Birmingham was obviously satisfied with a point. Head coach McCrees made an order to shrink his defense. Birmingham began to retreat to the half, leaving high center forward Rikic in the frontcourt to crush Manchester United's defender.

Facing intensive defense, especially when the referee favors and does not have a strong center, it is very difficult to break Birmingham's goal. Manchester United can only continue to use long shots to threaten Birmingham's goal.

In the 85th minute of the game, Dahn deliberately blocked Gao Xiaodong's breakthrough on the side and received a yellow card. Rooney quickly sent a free kick and Scholes shot from the top of the arc in the penalty area missed.

In the 88th minute, Gao Xiaodong fired from 30 meters, and the ball hit the defender and bounced out of the baseline. Manchester United got a corner kick opportunity. Facing intensive defense, the set-piece was a good opportunity to score. Vidic and Ferdinand came to the penalty area to compete for the top. Scholes passed the ball near the penalty area. Vidic shook his head and was hit by Foster's two punches. Gao Xiaodong shot another heavy shot from the outside of the penalty area. Foster held the ball out of the lintel.

In the first minute of stoppage time, Manchester United continued to serve a corner kick. Scholes directly hit the ball to the outside of the penalty area and looked for Gao Xiaodong. Birmingham's players quickly came out to press. Gao Xiaodong took the opportunity to pass the ball to the side and gave Giggs a quick step into the penalty area.

Giggs was cunning and caught the ball, and he passed the ball quickly with a low flat ball, looking for Gao Xiaodong to penetrate the ball forward.

Gao Xiaodong's forward speed was extremely fast, and no one in Birmingham kept up, so he could only watch Gao Xiaodong rush into the penalty area and headed the ball.

This is a chance to win. The goalkeeper had no time to respond at such a close-range header, but Gao Xiaodong pushed the ball to the post.

Gao Xiaodong watched the ball pop out of the bottom line and was crying without tears. He really didn't plan to show mercy, but his luck turned to Birmingham. Now it seemed that his show mercy was showing mercy.

This header scared the Birmingham man so much that his heart almost jumped out of his chest. Then Birmingham shrank to a thirty-meter area, set up an iron barrel array, and defended for one point.
Chapter completed!