Rooney and Park crack Bolton

Park Ji-Sung and Wayne Rooney both scored twice as Manchester United maintained their Barclays Premiership title drive with a clinical hammering of Bolton at Old Trafford.

The visitors did not recover from losing three goals in the opening half hour as Cristiano Ronaldo ran riot and Rooney had added a brutal fourth long before Gary Speed netted a late consolation from the spot.

But the win came at a price for United, who lost skipper Gary Neville early on with what appeared to be a serious ankle injury – which must make him a doubt for England’s crucial Euro 2008 qualifier with Israel in Tel Aviv next weekend.

Campo and Gardner were booked for fouls on Ronaldo and Brown respectively.

On the second occasion, referee Alan Wiley played the advantage, allowing Ronaldo to bring a superb save out of Jaaskelainen with a stinging drive.

It was Ronaldo’s last meaningful contribution before he was replaced by Alan Smith, the former Leeds forward’s first taste of Premiership action since he suffered his horrific injury at Liverpool in February last year.

Smith was soon celebrating as well after setting Rooney free with a lobbed pass which allowed the United forward to outpace Ben Haim before belting an unstoppable volley past Jaaskelainen.

Bolton were the beneficiaries of a pretty soft penalty decision when Wiley ruled Nemanja Vidic fouled Faye inside the box.

There was barely any contact between the pair but Speed stepped up and managed to beat Kuszczak with a shot the Pole came close to keeping out.