Manchester United 2-0 Sunderland

Rooney scores the ninth of his 10 league goals so far this season

• Rooney scores first goal in nine league games
• Wes Brown sent off instead of John O'Shea
• United win is 11th in 14 home league games
• Black Cats stay three points off relegation zone

Wayne Rooney's penalty helped Manchester United beat Sunderland after the visitors' Wes Brown was sent off in bizarre circumstances at Old Trafford.

Rooney scored after a foul on Radamel Falcao, for which Brown was dismissed and not John O'Shea, despite protests from the visitors.

United added a second when Rooney headed in after Adnan Januzaj's shot was parried into his path.

The victory reasserted the home side's challenge for a top-four place.

United moved up to third place in the Premier League as they claimed an 11th home win out of 14 in the top-flight so far this season.

However, Brown's red card emerged as the talking point as the Old Trafford side finally earned a breakthrough to go with their improved second half urgency.

Brown received his fourth red card for Sunderland in the Premier League with his dismissal at Man Utd

Falcao controlled an Ander Herrera cross beautifully in the box and, as he turned in between former United defenders Brown and O'Shea, looked to have been pulled by the latter.

Referee Roger East red-carded Brown and, despite the official speaking to his assistants via his headset, his original decision stood. The fourth official for the game was Martin Atkinson, who was criticised for his refereeing when Chelsea drew with Burnley last week.

After the match, the referees' body in English football released a statement claiming East had seen contact from both O'Shea and Brown on Falcao.

It added that East chose to dismiss Brown and not O'Shea because he thought the former had fouled Falcao while he was in the act of shooting.

Coincidentally, East's decision occurred on the same day as video technology trials during competitive matches were put back at least 12 months at a meeting of the game's lawmakers.

While there may be controversy over the sending off, there could be little argument over a result that leaves the Black Cats three points above the relegation zone.

United dominated possession and were initially frustrated by the massed ranks of the visitors, who had gone close to taking an early lead when Connor Wickham's shot was saved by David de Gea.

The home crowd offered a sign of their frustration at their side's failure to find a cutting edge in attack with a chorus of disapproval when a United corner ended up with a back-pass to De Gea.

The home side almost gave the Old Trafford faithful the goal they craved when a Young shot across goal ricocheted off O'Shea and crossbar before Herrera headed wide from the rebound.

A Marcos Rojo shot from a corner was cleared from the goalmouth by Sunderland midfielder Sebastian Larsson and, even though United had 71% of possession in the first half, they could not find a way through.

The ineffective Angel Di Maria was replaced by the lively Januzaj at the break and he powered a shot wide as United began to exert a greater threat.

But the penalty incident gave United the chance to score and Rooney, playing in a forward role, made no mistake as he avoided going nine league games without scoring for the first time since joining from Everton in 2004.

The England striker added a second when he nodded in after Januzaj's shot was parried by keeper Costel Pantilimon.

Sunderland have won just one of their last 10 Premier League matches

The only player to receive more red cards for Sunderland in the Premier League than Wes Brown (4) is Lee Cattermole (5)

Rooney on the way to scoring his 33rd Premier League brace

Rooney became the first player in Premier League history to score 10+ goals in 11 successive seasons

• Line-ups
• Match Stats
• Live Text

Line-ups

Man Utd

• 1de Gea
• 25A ValenciaBooked at 45mins
• 12Smalling
• 6Evans
• 5Rojo
• 21Herrera
• 17Blind
• 7Di MaríaSubstituted forJanuzajat 45'minutes
• 10RooneySubstituted forMataat 86'minutes
• 18Young
• 9FalcaoSubstituted forFellainiat 68'minutes

Substitutes

• 8Mata
• 11Januzaj
• 13Lindegaard
• 16Carrick
• 31Fellaini
• 33McNair
• 49Wilson

Sunderland

• 1Pantilimon
• 15Réveillere
• 16O'Shea
• 5BrownBooked at 65mins
• 3van AanholtBooked at 79mins
• 6Cattermole
• 11JohnsonSubstituted forFletcherat 81'minutes
• 7Larsson
• 14Gomez Garcia-Penche
• 10WickhamSubstituted forVerginiat 67'minutes
• 28DefoeSubstituted forGrahamat 67'minutes

Substitutes

• 4Bridcutt
• 9Fletcher
• 19Graham
• 22Coates
• 25Mannone
• 27Vergini
• 41Watmore

Referee:

Roger East

Attendance:

75,344

Match Stats

Home TeamMan UtdAway TeamSunderland

Possession

Home73%

Away27%

Shots

Home30

Away5

Shots on Target

Home10

Away3

Corners

Home13

Away1

Fouls

Home6

Away11

Live Text

Posted at

Match ends, Manchester United 2, Sunderland 0.

Full Time

Posted at 90'+4'

Second Half ends, Manchester United 2, Sunderland 0.

Posted at 90'+3'

Corner, Manchester United. Conceded by Costel Pantilimon.

Posted at 90'+1'

Offside, Manchester United. Antonio Valencia tries a through ball, but Ander Herrera is caught offside.

Posted at 90'+1'

Attempt saved. Antonio Valencia (Manchester United) right footed shot from the right side of the box is saved in the bottom left corner.

Posted at 90'+1'

Attempt saved. Marouane Fellaini (Manchester United) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Adnan Januzaj with a cross.

Posted at 90'

Attempt blocked. Juan Mata (Manchester United) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Marouane Fellaini.

Posted at 88'

Corner, Manchester United. Conceded by John O'Shea.

Posted at 88'

Attempt blocked. Antonio Valencia (Manchester United) right footed shot from the right side of the box is blocked. Assisted by Adnan Januzaj.

Posted at 87'

Corner, Manchester United. Conceded by Santiago Vergini.

Substitution

Posted at 86'

Substitution, Manchester United. Juan Mata replaces Wayne Rooney.

Goal!

Posted at 84'

Goal! Manchester United 2, Sunderland 0. Wayne Rooney (Manchester United) header from very close range to the high centre of the goal.

Posted at 84'

Attempt saved. Adnan Januzaj (Manchester United) left footed shot from the right side of the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Antonio Valencia.

Posted at 84'

Attempt blocked. Antonio Valencia (Manchester United) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Marcos Rojo.

Substitution

Posted at 81'

Substitution, Sunderland. Steven Fletcher replaces Adam Johnson.

Posted at 81'

Foul by Daley Blind (Manchester United).

Posted at 81'

Jordi Gómez (Sunderland) wins a free kick in the attacking half.

Posted at 80'

Attempt missed. Marcos Rojo (Manchester United) header from very close range misses to the left. Assisted by Ashley Young with a cross following a set piece situation.

Booking

Posted at 79'

Patrick van Aanholt (Sunderland) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

Posted at 79'

Adnan Januzaj (Manchester United) wins a free kick on the right wing.

Posted at 79'

Foul by Patrick van Aanholt (Sunderland).

Posted at 79'

Attempt saved. Daley Blind (Manchester United) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom right corner. Assisted by Antonio Valencia.

Posted at 78'

Corner, Manchester United. Conceded by Patrick van Aanholt.

Posted at 75'

Attempt missed. Chris Smalling (Manchester United) header from the centre of the box is close, but misses to the left. Assisted by Ashley Young with a cross following a corner.

Posted at 74'

Corner, Manchester United. Conceded by Patrick van Aanholt.

Posted at 73'

Foul by Daley Blind (Manchester United).

Posted at 73'

Danny Graham (Sunderland) wins a free kick in the attacking half.

Posted at 72'

Attempt missed. Marouane Fellaini (Manchester United) right footed shot from the centre of the box is high and wide to the right. Assisted by Wayne Rooney.

Posted at 72'

Attempt saved. Wayne Rooney (Manchester United) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom right corner. Assisted by Daley Blind.

Posted at 71'

Attempt saved. Adnan Januzaj (Manchester United) left footed shot from the right side of the box is saved in the bottom left corner. Assisted by Wayne Rooney.

Posted at 69'

Attempt blocked. Adnan Januzaj (Manchester United) right footed shot from the right side of the box is blocked. Assisted by Ashley Young with a cross.

Substitution

Posted at 68'

Substitution, Manchester United. Marouane Fellaini replaces Falcao.

Substitution

Posted at 67'

Substitution, Sunderland. Santiago Vergini replaces Connor Wickham.

Substitution

Posted at 67'

Substitution, Sunderland. Danny Graham replaces Jermain Defoe.

Goal!

Posted at 66'

Goal! Manchester United 1, Sunderland 0. Wayne Rooney (Manchester United) converts the penalty with a right footed shot to the bottom left corner.

Dismissal

Posted at 65'

Wes Brown (Sunderland) is shown the red card.

Posted at 64'

Penalty Manchester United. Falcao draws a foul in the penalty area.

Posted at 64'

Penalty conceded by John O'Shea (Sunderland) after a foul in the penalty area.

Posted at 61'

Attempt missed. Adnan Januzaj (Manchester United) left footed shot from the centre of the box is close, but misses the top left corner following a set piece situation.

Posted at 61'

Antonio Valencia (Manchester United) wins a free kick in the attacking half.

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