Late goals send Newcastle into deeper gloom

Newcastle United 0 Manchester United 2

French defender Jean-Alain Boumsong endured a nightmare as Manchester United plunged Barclays Premiership rivals Newcastle deeper into trouble.

The £8m signing gifted a 66th-minute opener to Wayne Rooney (pictured), and then as his side pushed for a last-ditch equaliser, allowed Ruud van Nistelrooy to seal the points in injury-time.

New signing Albert Luque had a 13th-minute strike ruled out for offside and fired across goal at the end, but the Magpies have now collected just one point from a possible 12 and have not scored a league goal in 555 minutes of football.

Newcastle lined up in a 4-3-3 formation with Dyer and Luque providing the width in attack either side of skipper Alan Shearer and Emre, Scott Parker and Lee Bowyer forming a three-man midfield.

Ronaldo earned catcalls from the home supporters when he went to ground after being muscled off the ball by Steven Taylor as he tried to recycle Paul Scholes’ over-hit fourth-minute free-kick.

Luque was appealing more in hope than expectation for a penalty on 10 minutes when he collided with O’Shea as the pair jumped for Stephen Carr’s cross, but to no avail.

But Newcastle created two chances in quick succession, Lee Bowyer seeing his effort on the turn deflected wide and Luque only just failing to connect with Shearer’s knockdown from an Emre corner.

The Spaniard had the ball in the net with 13 minutes gone after Edwin van der Sar failed to hold Shearer’s low left-foot drive, but his ecstasy turned to agony when he spotted the offside flag which had gone up immediately.

In a flurry of activity, Shearer miscontrolled in front of goal three minutes later after an excellent link-up between Parker, Dyer, Bowyer and Carr, but play moved swiftly to the other end and Shay Given had to save smartly from van Nistelrooy on the turn.

But Graeme Souness plans were thrown into disarray on 23 minutes when Emre, who had gone down after twisting and turning his way out of trouble, limped off to be replace by Jenas.

Newcastle found their goal under pressure on 26 minutes when O’Shea picked out van Nistelrooy at the far post, although Carr climbed well to hamper him and concede a corner.

Paul Scholes played the ball short to Darren Fletcher, who came inside on to his right foot and sent a dipping shot just over Given’s bar.

Dyer, who travelled to Germany two weeks ago in a bid to get to the bottom of his persistent hamstring problems, was enduring a tough start to the game, struggling to impose himself.

United were beginning to pose a greater threat, although Shearer became entangled in a physical battle with Gabriel Heinze and Silvestre as the temperature increased.

It was Ronaldo who earned the game’s first booking on 33 minutes with a robust challenge on Parker borne more out of frustration than anything else.

Taylor was enjoying his personal battle with van Nistelrooy and winning more than his share of challenges, but he needed Given’s help eight minutes before the break after Dyer again gave the ball away and van Nistelrooy slipped it into Ronaldo’s run.

The winger got there before the keeper, but Given got his body into the perfect position to block.

A clearly unhappy Dyer made way for Ameobi seconds later, and he arrived just in time to see Bowyer carelessly drop the ball straight into Ronaldo’s run, although the midfielder blazed wide from 22 yards.

Luque saw a 42nd-minute free-kick blocked by Rooney and volleyed high over two minutes later as Newcastle finished strongly.

Newcastle were under pressure within 19 seconds of the restart when, despite being held up by Taylor, Fletcher was able to square for Scholes whose right-foot shot drifted well wide.

Taylor kept Ronaldo at bay with a last-ditch header after Heinze crossed on 48 minutes, and the home side broke swiftly as Bowyer delivered the ball over the top for Luque, whose first touch let him down.

The game was becoming increasingly physical and Heinze and Rooney were both unhappy with challenges from Taylor and Carr respectively, although referee Webb was not overly concerned.

Souness had his final decision on personnel made for him on 55 minutes when Bowyer joined the walking wounded and was replaced by Faye, but his side should have been behind three minutes later.

O’Shea picked up possession on the right and cut inside on to his left foot to cross for van Nistelrooy to run unmarked towards goal but plant a free header wide of the post.

Heinze was proving unpopular with the home fans as he was awarded a series of fouls, but he lost his bearings on 63 minutes as he and Ameobi challenged for a high ball.

The England Under-21 international controlled with his chest after pulling away from his marker and dropped the ball off for Shearer, but his first-time shot was well blocked by Silvestre.

But United took the lead on 66 minutes when Taylor and Van Nistelrooy challenged for Van der Sar’s clearance and the ball dropped to Jean-Alain Boumsong.

The Frenchman, however, allowed it to bounce past him and Rooney needed no second invitation to surge past him and fire past the helpless Given.

It might have been 2-0 a minute later, although Carr got away with wrestling Ronaldo to the ground as he headed towards the penalty area.

The home fans were holding their breath again on 72 minutes when Van Nistelrooy ran on to Rooney’s through-ball and pushed it past Given before going to ground.

Referee Webb blew his whistle immediately, but instead of pointing to the spot, booked the Dutchman for diving, much to the relief of the Irishman.

Shearer headed powerfully over from Luque’s 87th-minute cross and the Spaniard curled a free-kick straight into Van der Sar’s arms, but their side’s chance had gone.

Their plight deepened in injury time when Boumsong failed to cut out Rooney’s cross and Van Nistelrooy took full advantage to make it 2-0.