Rooney on a mission to win

Manchester City 0 Manchester United 2

It might only be a matter of time before Chelsea are crowned champions but teenage terror Wayne Rooney is refusing to give up on his mission to deny the Londoners.

Rooney may have taken time to settle after launching his Manchester United career with a phenomenal debut hat-trick. Now, he is proving just why Alex Ferguson was prepared to spend £27m (€38m) to lure him from Everton.

The star quality of United’s squad is one of the major reasons why the club is so attractive to Malcolm Glazer. None of the success would be achieved without sheer hard work and persistence and Rooney is clearly blessed with those two attributes as well as his stellar talent.

So, with his side struggling to fashion a breakthrough against a dogged City side that ironically shoved the title door slightly ajar with their draw at Stamford Bridge last week, it was no surprise Rooney should emerge as matchwinner.

First, he produced the first-time finish to Gary Neville’s low cross midway through the second period, that flicked in off Richard Dunne.

Then Rooney profited more substantially from another intervention from the unlucky Dunne, whose outstanding contribution to City’s defensive effort did not deserve to see the Irishman lob the striker’s looping cross into the far corner beyond David James’ despairing dive.

It cemented United’s 13th Premiership win in 15 league outings, an amazing achievement in itself but all the more remarkable considering how far they are still adrift of Jose Mourinho’s men.

There is rarely a need to stir the pot when the blue and red halves of Manchester collide despite the vast disparity in status and recent success, but after Chelsea’s win at Everton yesterday there was no-one in the home camp unaware of how damaging a City win would be to their neighbours.

Kevin Keegan’s side have gained a succession of impressive results against the top three – they are still the only side to beat Chelsea this season – by maintaining an impressive discipline in defence whilst refusing to contribute too much in attack.

The early stages of this enthralling clash were different as the Blues attempted to strike early.

Antoine Sibierski had already sent one long-range effort whistling over Roy Carroll’s bar when he laid a neat pass off to Kiki Musampa just inside the United box.

The on-loan Dutchman is still finding his feet at Eastlands but wasted no time in lashing a volley at goal which Carroll did well to palm away.

In front of England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson, Shaun Wright-Phillips provided a reminder that his midweek woes were nothing more than a blip, darting to the byline before firing a low cross just behind four on-rushing team-mates.

At that stage, United had not even begun to get themselves established into the game, although they did come very close to breaking the deadlock when Rooney curled a free-kick towards the corner which David James just managed to palm away.

The effort seemed to have a settling effect on the visitors, who proceeded to dominate possession for long periods. United did suffer one setback when John O’Shea was forced off after suffering a delayed reaction to an earlier unintentional smack on the head from Sylvain Distin.

Otherwise it was steady progress forward, at least until they reached the City box through which, with Distin and Dunne foot perfect at that time, they found no access.

In fairness, after those difficult early moments, United’s rearguard was equally watertight until Wright-Phillips danced past Wes Brown and delivered a replica of his earlier cross right into Steve McManaman’s path.

A player of McManaman’s experience might have been expected to steer a shot coolly into the net but instead he flashed it wide.

A minute after the break Wright-Phillips seized on Brown’s hesitancy to loft a delicate effort towards the City goal which Carroll’s reactions managed to keep out.

Robbie Fowler might still have profited from the rebound but the former England man could not get his body in the right position to get a decent contact on his volley.

It was about the last decent opportunity City had until Carroll kept out another Musampa volley and Fowler volleyed over from the corner.

By then though, Rooney had already done his damage.

Chelsea might still be in the championship driving seat but, with 13 goals to his credit already this term, how the youngster must be relishing an FA Cup return to Goodison Park next weekend.