United hit four past dogged West Brom
Wayne Rooney was in great form again
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Saturday, 18, Oct 2008 10:06
Manchester United took close to an hour to open the scoring against West Brom, but eventually ran out comfortable 4-0 winners at Old Trafford.
The Baggies played five in midfield and United found it tough going to break the visitors down. The champions had a Wayne Rooney goal disallowed for pushing in the first-half. But the in-form England star got his name on the scoresheet in the second-half and created goals for Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani, with Dimitar Berbatov adding another.
With the creative duo of Paul Scholes and Michael Carrick out injured, United lacked the spark early on in midfield which usually creates goals for them. Ronaldo was the most threatening player and it was his passed which saw Rooney put the ball in the net after 21 minutes, but the striker was penalised for pushing the West Brom defender.
Rooney continued his impressive run of form and he almost scored with a header form a Ryan Giggs cross which Scott Carson saved well. The 23-year-old then put an accurate corner into the box which Nemanja Vidic connected with, but the ball was cleared by Ryan Donk.
Inevitably when the goal came, it was Rooney who broke the deadlock. Berbatov laid the ball onto his strike partner and Rooney sprinted clear on the left-wing before cutting inside Donk and firing a low shot past Carson.
Man-of-the-match Rooney went onto to create the next goal as his pass set up Ronaldo for a simple finish. Berbatov then added a third and it was Rooney who created the final goal as another good ball created a chance for Nani who finished well.