United find the going tough

Manchester United 1, Wigan 0
THE sight of Sir Alex Ferguson patrolling the touchline — a rare event these days — was an indication all was not well at Old Trafford last night.

Ferguson’s appearance in the technical area in the opening period was evidence of Manchester United’s lacklustre 1-0 win over Wigan Athletic.

Although the win lifted the Reds into second place in the Premier League, Ferguson admitted his side was far from their best.

But he claimed there were mitigating circumstances as Wayne Rooney, who scored the only goal of the game after 54 seconds, limped off with a hamstring strain, while other players were carrying knocks.

“The challenge was to win the game,” said Ferguson. “In my experience at United, there have been times when we have not played well but won 1-0.

“We battled hard and showed spirit.”

The fact United collected three points was all that mattered as they moved within touching distance of Liverpool at the top of the table.

And there was also the bonus of a club record after they recorded their ninth successive clean sheet in the Premier League.

It was a case of after the Lord Mayor’s Show for United following the euphoria of their win against Chelsea.

This was a laboured effort against an in-form Wigan side which had won six of their previous seven league matches.

Paying tribute to Steve Bruce’s side, Ferguson said: “You have to hand it to Wigan. They are a very resilient team and the best side to have played here this season.

Ferguson made five changes from Sunday, though the absence of Patrice Evra was enforced through injury.

Gary Neville, Ryan Giggs, Ji-sung Park and Darren Fletcher also stood down as Ferguson played a reshaped side.

The night could not have got off to a better start for United.

Rooney put them ahead in the opening minute with a simple tap-in after newly-crowned world player of the year Cristiano Ronaldo unlocked the Wigan defence. It was Rooney’s 12th goal of the season.

But the night quickly took a turn for the worse as the England international had to be replaced by Carlos Tevez after only eight minutes.

Tevez should have doubled the lead midway through the half when he burst clear and rounded ’keeper Chris Kirkland before over-running the ball.

Wigan created a number of dangerous openings against an off-colour United, who were lucky to have Nemanja Vidic and Jonny Evans in such commanding form at the back.

The second half was poor as well and there can be few occasions in recent times when United have created so little in a home match.

Dimitar Berbatov curled a delightful effort just wide of an upright late on which was as good as it got.

And Wigan can count themselves unlucky not to have pinched a point as Emile Heskey went close with a couple of headers while the visitors also had a couple more decent openings.