Fergie sent to stand as Newcastle lead

Newcastle 1, Manchester United 0 (half-time)

Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson lost his cool as Alan Shearer headed Newcastle into a half-time lead.

The Scot was sent from the United dug-out after furiously disputing referee Uriah Rennie's decision not to penalise Andy O’Brien for a challenge on Ryan Giggs two minutes before Shearer beat Tim Howard from a Laurent Robert cross.

Bramble was competing well with van Nistelrooy, although the Dutchman on several occasions caught out his marker to serve warning of his potency.

He turned smartly away from the defender on 21 minutes and appeared to be dragged back, but Rennie played the advantage as the striker raced in on goal only for Bramble to get back and make a superb saving tackle.

But his central defensive partner, Andy O’Brien, got the benefit of the doubt seconds later when he was shown a clean pair of heels by Giggs and dived in desperately on the edge of the box.

It looked like a foul and could even have resulted in a red card, but the official again waved play on, much to the disgust of an incandescent Alex Ferguson, whose furious protests saw him sent from the dug-out two minutes later.

The fiery Scot’s mood would hardly have improved on 26 minutes when Laurent Robert curled an inviting free-kick to the far post for Shearer to power, by his standards, a regulation header past the stranded Tim Howard.

Ameobi fired across the face of goal after again causing problems for Ferdinand but, stung by the perceived injustice of their situation, United mounted a concerted effort to restore parity.

They came within a hair’s breadth of doing just that 12 minutes before the break when O’Brien got the merest of touches to Keane’s cross with van Nistelrooy waiting to head home at the far post.

Bramble picked up a yellow card for a 36th-minute challenge on van Nistelrooy as the pressure continued but still the Magpies held firm.

However, they were under the cosh again on 42 minutes when Giggs headed a Solskjaer cross across the face of goal, and when Keane returned the ball, Hughes cleared over his own crossbar.