Manchester United recovered from an
early Wayne Rooney own goal to defeat
Stoke City 4-2 and keep up the chase at
the top of the table.
Rooney scored his first Premier League
goal ten years ago this week but it
initially looked like it would be an
unhappy anniversary as he headed the
ball into his own net from Charlie
Adam's free-kick, under pressure from
Ryan Shawcross, to put the Potters in
front after just 11 minutes.
Stoke did not sit back on their lead and
enjoyed a fine spell when they could
have struck again, with Adam and Peter
Crouch posing problems and David de
Gea forced into a couple of decent
saves.
Manchester United hit back on 27
minutes, though, with Rooney making
amends for his earlier mistake by
heading in at the right end from Robin
van Persie's sumptuous cross.
The Red Devils then took control and,
after Danny Welbeck skimmed the top
of the crossbar with a rasping long-
range effort, Van Persie made it 2-1
with a classy finish as he opened his
body up to smartly divert the ball past
Asmir Begovic.
Danny Welbeck gave United a two-goal
cushion immediately after the break
when Rooney delivered invitingly from
the right and he dived to head home.
Michael Kightly reduced Stoke's arrears
just before the hour mark with a shot
that crept over the line after hitting the
post, although Rio Ferdinand and
Jonny Evans should not have allowed
him to bulldoze through the United
defence.
It was left to Rooney to settle United's
nerves as he poked home from close
range after Stoke had failed to deal
with a corner, and even the
introduction of Michael Owen as a
substitute against his former club was
not enough to change the course of
the game.
The result keeps United within four
points of Chelsea at the Premier
League summit, while Stoke remain in
the bottom half after suffering their
second defeat of the season.
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