ROONEY STRIKES IN UNITED WIN

Wayne Rooney celebrated his new deal with a
fine goal as Manchester United overcame a
spirited Crystal Palace side 2-0 at Selhurst Park.
All eyes were on the England striker a day after
he agreed a lucrative contract extension, but
Palace battled hard to keep United at bay and
Marouane Fellaini squandered the one clear-cut
chance of a cagey first half.
The breakthrough arrived just after the hour
mark when Patrice Evra was brought down by
Marouane Chamakh and Robin van Persie
stepped up to score from the penalty spot.
Rooney then showed expert technique to volley
wonderfully into the top corner from Evra's
left-wing cross on 68 minutes, as United sealed
a crucial victory in their bid to reel in the top
four.
Striker Glenn Murray made his first Palace start
in over nine months and almost had a dream
return but he could not turn home a deep cross
in the second minute as Chris Smalling applied
pressure at the back post.
The ever-lively Adnan Janujaz had the ball in the
back of the net on 17 minutes as he arrowed
home a Van Persie pass but the effort was
rightly struck off by referee Michael Oliver after
the teenager had controlled the ball with his
arm.
United were gradually starting to box Palace in
without really creating any clear-cut chances to
break the deadlock but it was Rooney who came
close to changing that.
The 28-year-old was held up taking a corner as
a Palace fan threw a coin in his direction but,
after the initial delivery found its way back to
his feet, Rooney clipped the ball towards goal
only to see Damien Delaney head off from under
his own crossbar, with Nemanja Vidic nodding
the follow-up over.
Moments later it was Palace who came close for
the first time as Jonathan Parr's header took a
deflection off Smalling and forced David De Gea
into his first save of the game.
Chamakh was the next to force De Gea into
action but the former Arsenal man could only
give the United goalkeeper a simple save after
heading Thomas Ince's cross into the ground.
Fellaini was then guilty of a poor miss, bending
a left-footed shot wide after originally linking
up well with Van Persie.
Rooney sent a free-kick wide in first-half
stoppage time but Moyes would have been left
frustrated once again at the interval as his side
showed a lack of cutting edge in the final third.
Palace started the second half with a string of
corners as they looked to make their visitors pay
for their lack of first-half spark.
A chance finally materialised for Ince but he
could only fire a difficult volley high over the
crossbar before Jason Puncheon shot straight at
De Gea moments later.
United were then given a simple way into a
largely undeserved lead as Chamakh was guilty
of a misjudged challenge on Evra just inside the
Palace box, with Oliver pointing to the spot and
Van Persie sending Speroni the wrong way from
the resulting penalty.
The goal seemed to rouse United from their
slumber as Rooney and Mata exchanged passes
before picking out Fellaini, whose low effort was
well held by Speroni.
De Gea was also called upon shortly afterwards
as Cameron Jerome, introduced moments before
in place of Murray, curled a great effort towards
goal which the Spaniard did well to push away.
United's second again came courtesy of Evra,
who skipped down the left flank before crossing
low to a free Rooney who drove a crashing shot
into the back of the net.
Palace seemed to lose their defensive rigidity
after conceding twice in six minutes and it
almost got worse as Janujaz rolled in Van Persie,
whose shot across Speroni came back off the
crossbar.
The Eagles fought to the last to grab a
consolation but slipped to just their second
home defeat since Tony Pulis was appointed in
November.