Soccer-Moyes Worried Dropped Points Will Prove Costly For United

LONDON, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Manchester United used to be masters of scoring late goals but manager David Moyes is worried that late lapses are costing his side precious Premier League points.

Without playing particularly well, United were on course for a fifth win from six league games on Sunday when they led 2-1 at Cardiff City but a 90th-minute equaliser from Kim Bo-Kyung earned the Welsh side a deserved draw.

The champions, who are sixth in the Premier League after Sunday's draw, also conceded a late equaliser at home to Southampton in October.

"I'm disappointed that we couldn't take the three points," Moyes told United's website (www.manutd.com).

"We gave away a stupid free kick which led to the (second Cardiff) goal. But we also had a number of chances to put ourselves 3-1 up and we didn't do so, so in the end we've paid the price.

"That's two points dropped in this game and two points dropped in the Southampton game and that can be costly. We've got ourselves to blame."

While United have put together a strong run after their worst start to a Premier League season, they still appear to be labouring at times.

Against Cardiff they never looked totally in control of the game despite leading twice through goals from Wayne Rooney and Patrice Evra.

"We didn't play well enough in the second half," Moyes, whose side face a trip to Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League on Wednesday, added.

"We gave away too many free kicks and we allowed Cardiff to punt a lot into the box and we had to defend. For the majority of it we defended fine, we did most of the job well. But we didn't defend the cross in from the free kick."

United are seven points behind leaders Arsenal. (Reporting by Martyn Herman; editing by Toby Davis)

Reuters