LONDON, 15 April 2004 — Gary Neville was Manchester United’s unlikely match-winner as they labored to beat lowly Leicester City 1-0 and edge closer to second-placed Chelsea in the Premier League on Tuesday.

The 29-year-old defender, acting as stand-in captain and who has only scored five times after more than a decade at United, drilled the ball home from close range early in the second half at Old Trafford after a defensive mix-up. United remained third with 68 points, with Chelsea on 71 and leaders Arsenal on 78. Alex Ferguson’s side, however, have six matches left to Chelsea’s five. Leicester remained one off the bottom.

“I think some of us had our boots on the wrong feet tonight,” Neville told Sky Sports after his side’s disappointing display.

“But I’m just delighted we won - we want to get as near as Arsenal as we can.”

Tuesday’s other match between Leeds United, also stuck in the relegation zone, and Everton ended 1-1.

Manchester United, without injured skipper Roy Keane, lacked any real fire for most of the game and almost gifted the visitors the lead in the second minute when keeper Roy Carroll cleared a back pass from John O’Shea straight to Muzzy Izzet inside the box.

The Leicester midfielder was so surprised, however, that he dragged his shot wide when it looked easier to score.

The home side’s best early chance came after 16 minutes when Louis Saha chested down a neat chip from Neville but then, the hard work done, blasted well wide.

The game finally came to life on 56 minutes. Ronaldo, unmarked on the left, dragged a weak shot across goal only for the ball to bounce off defender Nikos Dabizas and pop up invitingly for Neville to fire the ball low into the net.

At Elland Road Wayne Rooney put Everton in front after 13 minutes with a right-foot shot from around 20 meters and they held on to that lead after keeper Nigel Martyn denied Alan Smith with two fine saves just before the break. James Milner equalized, however, five minutes into the second half with another long-range shot. Third-from-bottom Leeds have 32 points from 33 games, four points ahead of Leicester and two behind Portsmouth, Blackburn Rovers and Manchester City.

Draw Takes Dunfermline Closer to Hearts

In Glasgow, Dunfermline edged closer to third-placed Hearts with a 1-1 draw in their Scottish Premier League clash against 10-man Hibernian on Tuesday.

The result left Dunfermline fourth, eight points behind their rivals.

But they did well to come back against Hibs after Derek Riordan put the Edinburgh side ahead with a superb chip after five minutes.

The visitors did not help their cause when, in the 58th minute, Kevin Thomson was sent-off after collecting a second yellow card for what appeared to be verbally abusing a linesman. Dunfermline eventually made their one man advantage till 12 minutes from time when Gary Dempsey scored from close range.

Saudi Olympic Team on Top

In the qualifying rounds for Athens Olympic Games, the match between Saudi Arabia and Oman ended in a goalless draw yesterday, writes Mahmoud Ahmad. Saudi Arabia top the group with six points. Iraq are second with five points after losing to Kuwait 2-0, Oman third with five points on the basis of goal difference and Kuwait fourth with four points.

Ohod, Al-Ansar Qualify for King Fahd Cup Soccer

Meanwhile, the soccer derby between Ohod and Al-Ansar, both from Madinah, ended in a 1-1 draw, marking the end of the Saudi first division tournament this season. Both teams now qualify for King Fahd Cup Soccer Tournament next season, which is considered a great achievement for the Madinah teams.

Ohod, which with 42 points stood in first place, needed to win or draw the match to remain on top. Al-Ansar, which stood in second place with 41 points, had to win the match to overtake Ohod. The draw has helped Ohod to top the chart.