Rooney seals derby success

Rooney: Solitary strike

Man of the match: Michael Carrick. Ran the show with his silky passing.

Moment of the match: Ronaldo's sending-off. Transformed what looked like being a comfortable win into a dodgy last 20 for the visitors.

Attempt of the match: Rooney's late effort from the halfway line, saved by Joe Hart.

Save of the match: Evra clearing Dunne's last-gasp effort off the line. Preserved the victory for United.

Talking point: Ronaldo's sending-off. Right or wrong?

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Manchester United secured local bragging rights on Sunday as they ground out a 1-0 win over neighbours Manchester City at Eastlands.

Wayne Rooney's solitary strike towards the end of the first half proved to be enough, despite the Red Devils having Cristiano Ronaldo sent off.

The visitors dominated possession from the off, creating the better of the chances and forcing City onto the back foot.

Rooney, Ronaldo and Dimitar Berbatov all went close, with Joe Hart enduring a difficult afternoon in the City goal.

The Blues did threaten when allowed to break at pace, but Stephen Ireland saw a hopeful lob clip a post and Benjani fired wide when presented with a clean sight of goal.

It appeared that neither side would be able to force a breakthrough before the interval, only for Hart to then parry a low Michael Carrick effort straight to the feet of Rooney on 42 minutes.

Spurred on by a vociferous home support, City then came close to finding an equaliser in the opening exchanges of the second half as Benjani fired into the side-netting and Javier Garrido drifted a 25-yard free-kick inches wide.

The Blues' cause was then handed a timely boost on 68 minutes when Ronaldo was shown a second yellow card following a bizarre handball incident, but they were unable to restore parity.

Bystander

This is a different derby now, with City's vast wealth making this a fixture which is sure to be even more keenly fought in the future than it has been in the recent past, with British record signing Robinho the symbol of the new cash-rich Blues.

Not that the Brazilian was involved to any great extent during the opening period on Sunday.

Apart from sliding in on Edwin van der Sar with a dangerous studs-first challenge that was fortunate to escape added punishment and a free-kick that did not threaten the United goal, he was a bystander.

He was certainly not involved in City's best first-half chance, which came as a result of Van der Sar's weak punch just after the half-hour.

Ireland lofted the loose ball towards the empty net where Micah Richards, thinking it was going in, opted not to try and divert it past Patrice Evra and turned away in disbelief as it bounced to safety off the outside of a post.

Apart from that, it was all United.

But not for the first time this season, the Red Devils squandered an alarming number of chances.

United's record signing Berbatov was unfortunate when Hart made a superb one-handed save to deny him midway through the opening period but the Bulgarian was also off-target with a decent opportunity, as were Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo and Evra.

Park Ji-Sung was then heavily involved as United once again threatened City's penalty area.

But the ball eventually broke to Carrick, whose stinging angled drive was too hot for Hart to hold.

Stationed alone, inside the six-yard area, Rooney could not miss, allowing him to snatch his 100th goal in club football.

Pushed into midfield after the break, Vincent Kompany tried his luck from 25 yards before Shaun Wright-Phillips, identified as a danger man given the way he was buffeted around, fed Benjani whose first-time shot struck the side-netting.

Intensity

There was no let-up in the intensity of the tackling as Robinho, Ronaldo, another peripheral figure, and Evra got up gingerly.

If the atmosphere was heating up, it positively boiled over when Ronaldo left United to complete the final 22 minutes with only 10 men.

The Portugal winger was clearly upset at Howard Webb's decision, as was Ferguson and assistant Mike Phelan who all felt Ronaldo had been pushed into the ball.

But TV replays suggested Ronaldo had left Webb with little alternative than to show a second yellow card for deliberate handball as he leapt for Rooney's corner.

As his side were having to defend more than at any other stage, it was a moment of lunacy from a player expected to collect the prestigious Ballon D'Or on Monday.

In fact, it was the second time he had been dismissed on this ground, having also seen red in January 2006.

Ferguson must have been tempted to make a change but when the substitution arrived, it came from City in the form of Daniel Sturridge as United sat back, soaked up possession and tried to hold on.

Richard Dunne gave them a late scare when he saw a drilled volley hacked off the line by Evra, while United should then have put the result beyond doubt as they hit City on the break.

With Hart having pushed forward to help out in attack, Ryan Giggs passed up the opportunity to go for goal inside his own half and instead allowed Rooney to chance his arm.

The England international's 45-yard effort was on target, but Hart recovered just in time to get a flailing arm to the ball and push it around the post.

United proceeded to take their time with the resulting corner, helping them to claim a hard-fought success.