Tevez nicks win as petulant pair escape censure

CROWNED champions of the world in Japan less than a week ago, Manchester United quickly discovered their new found standing counts for nothing in the more mundane surroundings of the Britannia Stadium.

A late Carlos Tevez goal may have delivered victory against an obstinate Stoke, but the win was marred by yet more ill-discipline from Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo that ensured referee Chris Foy was the pivotal figure in the game.

Foy’s decision to send off Stoke full-back Andy Wilkinson 18 minutes from time was beyond dispute, the defender giving the match official no choice but to issue a second yellow card following his tackle from behind on Ronaldo that set new standards in stupidity. More contentious however, was Foy’s failure to act when Wayne Rooney threw an elbow at Abdoulaye Faye on the hour and then again when Ronaldo kicked out at Wilkinson just six minutes before the Stoke player was sent off.

Both incidents could easily have been punished with red cards which, given how balanced the game was prior to Wilkinson’s dismissal, would almost certainly have meant Ferguson and his players left the Britannia Stadium grateful for a point at best.

Instead, they struck a potentially telling blow in the title race having returned from the Far East to discover that neither Liverpool nor Chelsea had managed to claim three points from the round of league matches played in their absence.

For long periods a United victory looked far from assured, no doubt due at least in part to the rigours of travelling halfway around the globe to compete in the Club World Cup. No matter how tired they were, though, there was no excuse for the indiscipline of Rooney and Ronaldo that could have cost their side dear.

“28,000 people saw, but the only person who didn’t was the one that matters,” mused Stoke assistant manager Dave Kemp when asked his views on Ronaldo’s petulant flick at Wilkinson. The incident was strikingly similar to the Portuguese’s clash with Spurs’ Michael Dawson at White Hart Lane and set the seal on a half-hearted display characterised by more shoulder-shrugging and gesturing than feints and dribbles. Any doubts that all is not right with last season’s double player of the year were surely extinguished by this surly performance that screamed indifference.

Such incidents are quickly forgotten over the course of the season and the only thing that mattered, of course, was the result. “At this stage of the season I think they are all good wins,” said Ferguson. “Coming back from Japan I think we were all worried about how it was going to affect the team, but I thought the energy level was good. It was a difficult game but sometimes you have got be patient in games and a we were patient.”

Ferguson’s plans had been thrown into disarray moment before kick-off when Rio Ferdinand was forced to withdraw with the recurrence of a long-standing back injury that will keep him out for around ten days.

Jonny Evans was drafted in alongside Nemanja Vidic, and was almost immediately caught out when he allowed Ricardo Fuller to drift in behind him only for the Stoke striker to spurn the chance that came his way.

That was about a good as it got for both sides during the first half, before United finally upped the tempo after the break and began to look at last like their more normal selves. The flurry lasted for only a short while, however, and Stoke had forced their way back into the game when Wilkinson got himself sent off. From that point the only question was how long Stoke could hang on — 12 minutes was the answer.

With Ronaldo seemingly miles away, United needed inspiration from somewhere and it came from of substitute Dimitar Berbatov, who turned superbly after collecting Gary Neville’s cross and teed up Tevez who crashed the ball home from close range. “If we get to New Year’s day and there are just a couple of points behind we’ll be happy,” said Ferguson. “The second half of the season we will kick on a bit.”