Manchester United players eased the pressure on manager David Moyes with a
comfortable 4-1 win over Aston Villa at Old Trafford.
During the match a banner
reading "Wrong one, Moyes out" flew over the skies above the Theatre of Dreams.
However the under-fire manager seized the initiative by entering the field before
the teams came out and applauded the continuing support of his home
fans. In response, they repaid the favour by producing a standing ovation.
Despite all the mutual back-slapping, it was the visitors who took the lead after 12 minutes. Gabby Agbonlahor
was brought down on the left hand edge of the penalty area by Phil Jones and up stepped
Ashley Westwood to curl the ball over the wall and past keeper David De Gea from 20 yards.
The home team responded on 19 minutes when Shinji Kagawa cut in from
the left and put in a perfect cross onto the head of an unmarked Wayne Rooney
who glanced the ball past keeper Brad Guzan to level the game.
The Red Devils scored again on the stroke of
half time. A killer through ball by Kagawa from the right found its way to Juan Mata on the
left hand side of the penalty area. As the Spaniard cut back, he was brought
down by Villa defender Leandro Bacuna and referee Martin Atkinson pointed straight to the spot. Rooney fired the resulting penalty past
Guzan for his second of the match to start the turn around.
Villa had two good chances early in the second half which both fell
to striker Christian Benteke. The first chance looked certain to be the
equaliser on 49 minutes but the Belgian striker missed the ball when going to shoot after being
played in by a chipped through ball to the far post by Ashley Westwood. Four minutes later Benteke was there again to meet a
Marc Albrighton cross from the right hand side but headed over.
In top-level football, teams must take their chances and Villa's failure to do so was punished with 57 minutes gone. A header over the Villa defence from Alexander Buttner
pinged around in the box where Mata reacted quickest to score his first goal
for the club from 12 yards out.
Rooney could have had a hat trick but his effort from the left hand
side of the box was well saved by Guzan.
The comeback was complete on 90
minutes when some good work on the left hand side by substitute Adnan Janujaz
produced a cross which was met by his fellow substitute Javier Hernandez who
poked the ball home from three yards out.
It was a dominant performance from the Champions who had to respond to
their midweek derby loss to Manchester City.
After the game Villa
manager said; "When you come to places like this, you have to take your
chances when you get them."After the comfortable victory David Moyes said that his team were "well prepared" for their crucial Champions League last 16 match against Bayern Munich.
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