Manchester United Thump Wigan

Patrice Evra

Goals by Patrice Evra and sub­sti­tute Javier Hernan­dez secured a most import­ant 2–0 tri­umph for Manchester United over local rivals Wigan Ath­letic at Old Traf­ford on Sat­urday. Wayne Rooney received a mixed wel­come from the Manchester United sup­port­ers when the prod­igal son came off the substitute’s bench in the 57th minute of the match to make his long awaited return to the first team from an ankle injury after his con­tract row.

French defender Patrice Evra opened the scor­ing when he headed Manchester United in front from a bril­liant Ji-sung Park cross shortly before the inter­val. While Wigan Ath­letic enjoyed the bet­ter of the first-half oppor­tun­it­ies, the Manchester United play­ers saw much more of the ball after the break. As ref­eree Mike Atkin­son was either filled with Dar­win­ism or else had got his whistle choked up with mud, Ant­olin Alcaraz received his second book­ing after a fool­ish chal­lenge on Dar­ren Fletcher on 59 minutes while Hugo Rodal­lega was ordered off after a mind­less attack on Rafael da Silva just a few moments later.

Javier Hernan­dez even­tu­ally came on for Michael Car­rick mid­way through the second half and the lethal striker sealed the points for Manchester United as he headed home a cross from Rafael after 77 minutes. Wayne Rooney should have scored in the dying moments of the match but his effort went straight at the goal­keeper. Although Rooney appears to have the fin­esse of a rhino at the very moment, he is most likely to start against Rangers in the Cham­pi­ons League on Wed­nes­day. Sir Alex Ferguson’s second placed side are now level on points with fel­low title con­tenders Chelsea, who remain top on goal difference.

Manchester United Items