A stroke of luck helped the
forward hand the Red Devils
the lead in a poor first half,
before they were able to
hold on to the win after the
break without moving through the gears


Manchester United extended their
lead at the top of
the Premier League table to 15 points after a
1-0 win over Reading at Old Trafford on
Saturday. Wayne Rooney opened the scoring
with 20 minutes gone but the Red
Devils failed to kick-on against
the Royals in a less-than-
entertaining first period. And the below-par display
continued after the break, with
both sides failing to threaten the
other, meaning Sir Alex Ferguson's
men take full advantage of
Manchester City's loss to Everton while their manager-less
opponents remain in deep trouble
at the bottom. Rooney, Robin Van Persie and
Danny Welbeck all started for the
hosts in an attacking line-up,
while Nani (hamstring) missed the
game and Alexander Buttner
replaced Patrice Evra at the back. Stuart Taylor continued in goal
for the Royals, who were under
the control of caretaker boss
Eamonn Dolan after Brian
McDermott's sacking, while Pavel
Pogrebnyak was left out despite being available after a three-
match ban. After a sluggish opening 15
minutes or so, Ashley Young
collected a fine ball from Rio
Ferdinand before flashing a shot
narrowly wide of the post in the
first half chance of the clash. And the centre-half was again
heavily involved as United got the
breakthrough with 20 minutes
played. Ferdinand expertly carried
the ball up from the back, before
findingRooney whose strike deflected off Alex Pearce and
looped over Taylor. Welbeck then dragged a shot
wide, with Rooney and Van Persie
sending long-range efforts into
the keeper's arms, as Ferguson's
men comfortably dominated
possesion but just failed to create any clear chances against
a stubborn Royals defence. Hal-Robson Kanu went inches from
an equaliser with a superb, curling
left-footed effort from outside
the United box, in the visitors'
first shot at goal, but the score
remained 1-0 at the half-time whistle. Reading started the second
period much brighter and were
unfortunate not to be awarded a
penalty when Nemanja Vidic
shoved Adrian Mariappa to floor
in the box. However they struggled to
create any chances of note as
the match became scrappy, with
both sides allowing sloppiness to
creep into their already lacklustre
play. The Red Devils finally sprung back
into action with about an hour
played as Welbeck had a strike
deflected wide and Van Persie and
Young saw efforts rise over the
bar. Taylor then palmed away a
powerful Van Persie free-kick as
the slight pressure continued, but
it only lasted for a matter of
minutes before the match
returned to its former uninspiring standard. Reading offered little in attack as
they searched for another late
goal, and it was in fact the hosts
who went closest to a second
through a Rooney pile-driver and
a neat effort from Giggs in the last five minutes. Van Persie then also shot
acrobatically over the bar very
late on before the hosts held firm
to grind out another win that
puts even more space between
them and rivals City.