Boss Happy To Vanquish Villa

Sir Alex Ferguson was left beaming by the authoritative air with which United saw off the stern challenge of Aston Villa.

Three superb goals – two from Wayne Rooney and a clincher from Nemanja Vidic – accounted for Gerard Houllier’s Villans. Although the visitors briefly halved the arrears through Darren Bent, United rarely wobbled in an imposing display.

“I’m absolutely delighted,” the Boss told MUTV. “Fantastic performance. We had some absolutely great displays today. I’m very pleased. They all played well. Villa are a very good side and we had to really concentrate when they had the ball because they had some good possession. But we missed some great chances and their goalkeeper’s had two or three really fantastic saves. I thought we deserved to win by more, actually.”

United’s victory was teed up by Wayne Rooney’s scorching opener inside a minute; a gentle caress of Edwin van der Sar’s free-kick and a thumping finish to follow. Having bagged his first home goal from open play since last March, Rooney added a second just before half-time, and Sir Alex was delighted to see his number 10 back on the scoresheet.

“It was a fantastic bit of vision from Edwin van der Sar and a great strike, and he’s taken it absolutely fantastically. What a hit. Wayne Rooney was fantastic tonight. He’s still got the appetite to play, and that’s an important factor in it all. He never stops trying hard, and that’s an inbred thing in the lad. We can’t be criticising him when he’s giving that effort.”