Goater fires City to historic win
The Bermudan hit-man did the damage after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer cancelled out Nicolas Anelka's early opener, but United were undone by catastrophic individual errors by Fabien Barthez and Gary Neville, and only Paul Scholes and Solskjaer can be exempt from any criticism after a woeful display by Sir Alex Ferguson's side.
City's fans can be proud of their players on an emotional day in Manchester, and they started brightly in a bid to win a derby for the first time since 1989. When Goater broke through but shot tamely, there seemed little danger, but Barthez spilled the ball straight to Anelka who tapped home after only five minutes.
United responded, three minutes later, with a beautiful cross from Ryan Giggs that was converted by Solskjaer, at full stretch, as the Norwegian prodded the ball past former team-mate Peter Schmeichel.
The visitors then dominated possession and looked a sound bet to go on and inflict more misery on their neighbours, but a disastrous piece of schoolboy defending by Gary Neville gifted City the advantage again.
The Red Devils captain inexplicably tried to allow an aimless Marc-Vivien Foe pass to run out of play, and got the wrong side of Goater, who was rewarded for his perseverance by stroking an easy finish past Barthez after dispossessing Neville.
Anelka should have sealed the victory even before half time when allowing Barthez to make a save in a one-on-one situation after United's ponderous pairing of Rio Ferdinand and Laurent Blanc had again been cruelly exposed. Goater also had a couple of efforts off the target as City continued to create the better opportunities.
Any hopes of United showing some class after the break were quickly extinguished as, six minutes into the second period, a one-touch pass from the excellent Eyal Berkovic freed Goater, who calmly chipped over Barthez to register his second strike of the game.
Although Ferguson's side did manage to muster a token response, with Solskjaer seeing a back-heel kept out by Schmeichel, and the Dane also saving a poorly struck effort from Giggs, they rarely looked like making a fight of it.
Substitute John O'Shea, on for the red-faced Gary Neville, was guilty of one of the most glaring misses of the season in the dying seconds, as he somehow contrived to slice Solskjaer's inviting centre wide from a yard out.
There were several penalty appeals - Ruud van Nistelrooy had one in each half although neither incident seemed to warrant a spot-kick, and Anelka was tripped by Barthez in the second period as he again raced through on goal.
City celebrated a long-overdue win over their fierce rivals, but any hopes United may have had of lifting the title were surely ended after a sorry performance, with Phil Neville, who surprisingly took the armband from his elder brother, probably as culpable as Gary for the defeat as it was his slipshod passes in midfield which led to the first and third goals by the hosts.
