Rooney spares United blushes

INJURY-HIT Manchester United stumbled past Birmingham City as they kicked off the defence of their Barclays Premier League title yesterday at Old Trafford.

Wayne Rooney spared the blushes of the Reds with the match-winning goal as Sir Alex Ferguson’s side produced a far-from-classic display.

After being held at home by Reading and Newcastle on the opening day of the previous two seasons, United at least improved on those results.

Ferguson said: “It was a long day because of the way Birmingham set their stall out to be strong, resilient and hard to break down.

“That was understandable as they have come out of the Championship and are determined to stay in the Premier League.

“But three points on the opening day is better than it has been for the last couple of years.”

What the match showed more than anything, however, is that England has two of the best keepers in the land.

United’s Ben Foster, who was unconvincing in last Sunday’s FA Community Shield at Wembley, was this time confident and assured in everything he did.

And the save he made to deny Blues substitute Christian Benitez late in the game spared United the embarrassment of allowing two points to slip from their grasp.

At the opposite end was Joe Hart, the keeper the Blues have loaned from Manchester City for the season.

Hart, whose heroics helped England reach the finals of the European under-21 championships, produced three superb saves to prevent a heavier defeat and ensure the Blues remained in with a shout until the final whistle.

The Reds’ clean sheet was a bonus bearing in mind they were without the injured Edwin van der Sar, Gary Neville, Rafael da Silva, Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic.

And the absence of Michael Carrick and Ji-sung Park, both rested, meant it was a much-depleted line-up for the season’s opener.

The breakthrough came in the 34th minute when man-of-the-match Rooney unlocked the visitors’ defence.

Nani crossed from the left, Rooney headed against a post from six yards and reacted the sharpest to slot home the rebound.

The Blues had their best spell of the match late in the opening half when Cameron Jerome’s drive deflected off the heel of Paul Scholes and flew narrowly wide, while Franck Queudrue’s header from spectacularly cleared off the line by Patrice Evra.

Fletcher had a great chance to double United’s lead in first half stoppage time but blazed wide while soon after the restart Hart denied Rooney with another stunning stop.

Dimitar Berbatov’s effort was headed off the line by Lee Carsley, while in stoppage time substitute Michael Owen was released by Rooney and, clean through on goal, was denied by Hart with another terrific save.