Premier League - United win, Rooney injured

Eurosport - Thu, 15 Jan 14:44:00 2009

Manchester United went second in the Premier League after Wayne Rooney's first-minute goal gave them a hard-fought 1-0 home win over Wigan.

FOOTBALL 2008-2009 Premier League Manchester United Man United-Wigan Rooney - 0

Rooney pounced from close range after a run from Cristiano Ronaldo down the right, but he came off six minutes later and is expected to miss the next three weeks with a hamstring injury.

United were holding on at the end but steady defending saw them go two points behind leaders Liverpool with a game in hand.

They will go top if they beat Bolton at the weekend, with Liverpool not playing Everton until Monday night.

It was Rooney's fifth Premier League goal and 14th in all competitions this season.

The England striker's replacement, Carlos Tevez, missed a straightforward chance when a poor first touch sent him too far wide after he was played clean through.

The Argentine's miss came in the 25th minute and appeared to dent his confidence as, despite working hard, he barely got a sniff on goal and was outshone by Wigan's rugged defence.

United boss Sir Alex Ferguson later said that Tevez played with a knock for the second half, while defender Jonny Evans also struggled with an injury.

The goal-scoring start stunned Wigan, but despite dominating first-half possession the hosts had little else to show other than a shot from Nani that went well over Chris Kirkland's crossbar and a long-range drive from Paul Scholes that was blocked by Mario Melchiot.

Wigan were on the back foot for much of the first half but created speculative efforts from distance by Luis Antonio Valencia, Emile Heskey and Wilson Palacios, with the latter subject of a £10 million bid from Tottenham that was rejected minutes before kick off.

They also had the second-best chance of the half when Paul Scharner rose to head a Ryan Taylor cross into the side netting on 38 minutes.

Steve Bruce's men grew into the match and, three minutes later, Taylor should have made Edwin van der Sar work but curled a shot wide when he was found unmarked in the box.

In the second half, Wigan were the better side.

Aside from some clever build-up play by Dimitar Berbatov - who had one cheeky effort with the outside of his foot go wide with six minutes left - United barely got a look-in.

Wigan almost grabbed a leveller just after the hour mark but Amr Zaki's volley was blocked and Taylor's follow-up was saved by Van der Sar, who was by far the busier keeper.

The Dutch veteran was forced to act bravely under pressure on two occasions while he saved well from Palacios's spectacular long-range shot.

Serbia centre-half Nemanja Vidic was becoming United's key man, with key challenges on Heskey and Maynor Figueroa and a generally strong aerial performance that helped keep them ahead.

The Latics piled on the pressure in the closing minutes but United clung on to the win while Wigan lost only their second Premier League match in eight.

Reda Maher / Eurosport

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  1. The difference between you guys and dogs is that dogs talk less, learn faster and walk on fours....yo whine, curse and brawl, hiss, and you may all suffer some preventable heart disease before long.

    Why cant we have a productive forum? Wat on earth is all censored words meant for? God is not happy with us at this particular moment.

    REPENT..

    From Majoser, on Thu 15 Jan 2:36AM

  2. luck will run out for MU soon too..

    From lawrencekhaw, on Thu 15 Jan 2:14AM

  3. everytime i write a well thought out, well spelt decent reply to you rc_alcock, it keeps saying invalid comment.
    so lets try this.

    you are a massive ****ing P***k!!!!!

    From michael f, on Thu 15 Jan 1:57AM

  4. happy now u sad little thing

    From saeed, on Thu 15 Jan 1:52AM

  5. yes u r @#$%.as i previously mentioned my intelligence took a severe blow frm the moment i started reading ur comments u fukin @#$%

    From saeed, on Thu 15 Jan 1:51AM

  6. The stones in Benitass kidney got bigger when he was told about ManU's win.

    From Half A Brain, on Thu 15 Jan 1:44AM

  7. Goodnight rc_smallcock and don't forget to change your sheets as they will be stinking by now.Maybe you should get your mum to do it when she gets out of prison.lol

    From SARAH G, on Thu 15 Jan 1:38AM

  8. "Am I alone in feeling that there is something most sinister and unholy about manchester united football club with there creepy manager and a collection of Cheats Freaks Thugs and Winking Diving Crying Ladyboys ?"

    n ur sayin ur a utd fan u acock.the only thing creepy is ur name n ur comments ladygay

    From saeed, on Thu 15 Jan 1:36AM

  9. hahahahahahaaaaaaaaaa
    nice one rc acock ur acock.dnt call me ur brother cuz im nt"lol"

    From saeed, on Thu 15 Jan 1:32AM

  10. hahahahahahaaaaaaaa
    take that rc u acock.im nt ur brother"lol"

    From saeed, on Thu 15 Jan 1:28AM

  11. rc_smallcock I have the option of getting laid unlike you who is probably flicking between this page and youporn.That thread was not posted by you and I bet you wish you had a girlfriend instaed of one hairy sweaty hand.W*NKFIEND

    From SARAH G, on Thu 15 Jan 1:23AM

  12. It wasn't sexy football. It was a scrape. But ManU hung on to win. Some of the ManU players did not perform up to expectation including Tevez and Nani. Loosing Rooney will be a great disadvantage to ManU and Tevez must now prove he is worth putting on the red shirt of ManU. But a win is a win. Two down and one to go to top the league. Go ManU.

    From cokrowinoto, on Thu 15 Jan 1:22AM

  13. sarah g rc the @#$% was pretending to be a utd fan a few days bak.just pathetic.what a low life.ur absolutely a @#$% the @#$% u @#$%

    From saeed, on Thu 15 Jan 1:20AM

  14. Theres a manc, a cockney and a scouser who were looking for a cheap holiday to the USA. They look around for some time and eventually find an absolute bargain last minuite deal and all go home to pack. Next day they wake up in a dinghy in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, all with bumps on the head where they been knocked out the night before. The manc says "what the @#$% are we doing in the middle of the sea!? All I remembe is packing and then the rest is a blur". The cockney says "yeah mate, same for me what the @#$% are we going to do?". And the Scouser says "eeeeerrrrrrmmmm yyeeaahh this is @#$%, at least last year we got a friggin paddle".

    GIMMIE US YA TRRRRRAAAAIIIINNNNEEERRRRSSSS

    From a.richmond77, on Thu 15 Jan 1:19AM

  15. united are @#$%e only just win again

    From DANIEL R, on Thu 15 Jan 1:19AM

  16. rc the @#$% ur a @#$% n a disgrace to mankind.go @#$% urself fite now.man utd hav the bst players jus cuz ur too jealous to handle it doesnt mean u shud make such comments .fuking @#$% dik @#$%

    From saeed, on Thu 15 Jan 1:18AM

  17. RC smallcock you have copied that post from a previous thread.Typical thieving scouser.

    From SARAH G, on Thu 15 Jan 1:12AM

  18. Son to his Dad ' Can you get pregnant from @#$% shaggin ? "

    Dad to his son ' Course you can, where do you think Scousers come from ? '

    From daz, on Thu 15 Jan 1:06AM

  19. A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A CALM DOWN CALM DOWN...

    From COLIN, on Thu 15 Jan 1:04AM

  20. scousers..
    we might leave ye the fa cup if ye murder enough of your own fans for us..

    From nheavey, on Thu 15 Jan 12:58AM
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