United earn derby spoils despite Ronaldo dismissal
Wayne Rooney scored his first goal in seven games for Manchester United
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Sunday, 30, Nov 2008 09:04
Manchester United beat Manchester City 1-0 at Eastlands despite having Cristiano Ronaldo controversially sent-off.
Wayne Rooney grabbed the winner in the first-half and United held on despite Ronaldo's dismissal for two bookable offences.
The win sees Sir Alex Ferguson's men remain in third spot while City slip to 14th place.
United were good value for their victory after dominating the first half in their bid to avenge last season's two defeats by their bitter rivals.
Rooney came close early on when his first-time shot was spilled by Joe Hart but Darren Fletcher could only poke the rebound wide.
But the keeper redeemed himself minutes later when he tipped over Dimitar Berbatov 's header after Rafael Da Silva's pinpoint cross.
The home side's best chance of the half fell to Stephen Ireland whose shot rattled the outside of the post after Edwin van der Sar flapped at a free-kick.
At the other end, United continued to bombard the City goal and went ahead on 39 minutes when Hart parried Michael Carrick's venomous shot, allowing Rooney to tap in the 100th goal of his club career.
Mark Hughes' men improved after the break and went close with Benjani firing into the side-netting while Vincent Kompany shot wide from distance.
Their chances of salvaging something were boosted when Ronaldo was shown a second yellow by referee Howard Webb on 68 minutes for patting the ball out of play with his hands. The Portuguese winger was shown his first booking minutes earlier for clipping Shaun-Wright Phillips.
But despite the main advantage, City were unable to test Van Der Sar with Robinho in particular well below-par.
Their best opportunity fell to Richard Dunne in stoppage time whose shot from a corner was hacked off the line, but the champions held on to keep up the pressure on rivals Liverpool and Chelsea at the top of the table.