United beat Blades to restore gap
Rooney scored the second in United's win
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Tuesday, 17, Apr 2007 11:00
Manchester United went six points clear of Chelsea at the head of the Premiership with a 2-0 win over relegation candidates Sheffield United at Old Trafford.
A patched-up home defence, with Rio Ferdinand and Edwin van der Sar absent through injury, stood firm and provided the platform from which the table-toppers edged closer to the title.
The opener arrived after just three minutes as Michael Carrick slipped the ball past Paddy Kenny after Cristiano Ronaldo's cunning pass had cut apart the Blades' back four.
Wayne Rooney then squandered a glorious chance to double the lead as his bustling run in off the flank was not matched by a tame attempt to beat the keeper.
By contrast the visitors' Jamaican striker Luton Shelton was short of company up front but showed that he still carried considerable threat after shrugging off Gabriel Heinze and whipping a shot just wide of the target in response.
It was Rooney who scored the next goal however with a rocket finish on 50 minutes after Ryan Giggs' precise ball through.
Sir Alex Ferguson's men were given some troubling moments by Sheffield United as they attempted to see out the remainder of the match.
An electric burst of pace from Shelton appeared to have left Heinze for dead and when the Argentinian recklessly attempted to recover the ball in the box a penalty seemed inevitable.
However Rob Styles waved play on, much to the disgust of the away bench, and the strugglers' luck refused to turn when Michael Tonge saw a fine effort bounce clear off the crossbar as the game drew to a close.