By David Hobbs
August 28 2005

Second half goals from Wayne Rooney and Ruud van Nistelrooy added to Newcastle's woe as Manchester United beat Newcastle United at St James' Park.

Rooney & Ruud Defeat Newcastle

Newcastle United 0

Manchester United 2
Wayne Rooney, 65
Ruud van Nistelrooy, 90

Newcastle have registered just 1 point from their 4 Premiership games so far this season and seem to be losing out on prime target Michael Owen, despite the £10 million signing of Albert Luque, who made his debut this afternoon. On top of that, the Magpies have yet to find the back of the net.

In contrast, the Red Devils have yet to concede a goal courtesy of new goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar and have won all 3 opening matches.

Sir Alex Ferguson carefully chose his team to face Debrecen in midweek with this fixture in mind, but there was no place for Ryan Giggs in the starting XI. He joined Ji Sung Park and Alan Smith on the bench while Roy Keane, John O'Shea, Mikael Silvestre and Ruud van Nistelrooy all returned to the team.

Toon boss Graeme Souness gambled on starting Emre in midfield following a swift return from injury and had to throw his initial tactical plan out of the window. Both he and Kieron Dyer suffered injuries midway through then first-half and were replaced by Shola Ameobi and Jermaine Jenas.

Alan Shearer had tussles with Mikael Silvestre and Gabriel Heinze before going close to breaking the deadlock. Shearer's shot was blocked by van der Sar and the rebound fell to debutant Albert Luque, whose poke was deemed offside.

The Spaniard had a free-kick from the box blocked while he could have used his heading abilities to convert a chance at the far post, but tried acrobatics instead and missed.

Into the second half and United turned up the pressure after being held by a stubborn Newcastle.

Edwin van der Sar's long clearance fell to the path of Boumsong, who was distracted by Wayne Rooney, allowing the youngster to grab the ball and strike past Given after the hour mark.

Alan Smith and Ji Sung Park were introduced late in the game, prompting a second United goal. Wayne Rooney set up Ruud van Nistelrooy with moments to go and the Dutchman made no mistake with a left-foot effort.

Final Score: Newcastle United 0 - 2 Manchester United
Att: 52,327

Newcastle United: S Given, S Carr, J Boumsong, S Taylor, C Babayaro, K Dyer (38 S Ameobi) , L Bowyer (55 A Faye) , S Parker, B Emre (23 J Jenas) , A Shearer, A Luque

Manchester United: E Van der Sar, J O'Shea, R Ferdinand, M Silvestre, G Heinze, R Keane, D Fletcher (85 A Smith) , P Scholes, W Rooney, C Ronaldo (85 J Park) , R van Nistelrooy

Refereed By: H Webb