By David Hobbs
October 15 2005

Giuseppe Rossi bagged his first senior goal for Manchester United in the Red Devils' 3-1 victory against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.

Rooney struck in the first half to take United into the interval with a lead and Ruud van Nistelrooy added a second in the second half. However, Sunderland looked as if they were staging a comeback through Stephen Elliott but Rossi stole the show at the end.

United were forced into some changes before kick-off due to many injuries to key players. Youngster Phil Bardsley had to fill in at right-back with John O'Shea at left-back in the absence of Gary Neville and Kieran Richardson.

However, Sir Alex Ferguson sung his praises after Bardsley's performance. "Young Bardsley, without question, is an exceptional talent. He's now 20-21 and was unfortunate last year to be out for a year with injury.

"He is determined and his perseverance in training helped in that respect. He has great confidence in himself and I wasn't concerned about giving him his debut."

With 5 minutes to go before half time, excellent build-up play involving Ji-Sung Park allowed Wayne Rooney to break the deadlock. The game seemed won in the second half when Ruud van Nistelrooy, assisted by Rooney, shot well past Sunderland's Davis in goal.

Stephen Elliott's superb goal moments later ensured a nail-biting finish with Anthony Le Tallec coming agonizingly close to a winner moments later.

Guiseppe Rossi killed the game off though with a great effort from 20 yards, his first senior goal for United. Sir Alex Ferguson commented: "Rossi is a marvellous talent. You saw that today. He's scored lots of goals for the reserves and I've been dying for the opportunity to get him on the pitch, to be honest, quite a few times now.

"We need to get him ensconced in playing in the first team. I know we've got great options up front, but he has the talent for scoring goals and, when you get a player like that, you have to give him opportunities.

"Sunderland played very well in the first half today. They didn't get any joy for it but put us under a lot of pressure. They play at a lively pace and that's the strength of them."

Final Score: Sunderland 1 - 3 Manchester United
Att: 39,085

Sunderland: Davis, Nosworthy, Breen, Caldwell, Hoyte, Lawrence (Le Tallec 62), Whitehead, Miller, Welsh (Robinson 86), Elliott, Gray (Stead 62).

Manchester United: Van der Sar, Bardsley, Ferdinand, Silvestre, O'Shea (Pique 89), Park, Smith, Scholes, Rooney, van Nistelrooy (Rossi 78), Ronaldo (Miller 89).

David Hobbs - Webmaster
[david@manutdweb.com]