{"id":7913,"date":"2014-03-22T20:08:32","date_gmt":"2014-03-22T20:08:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=7913"},"modified":"2014-03-23T04:11:36","modified_gmt":"2014-03-23T04:11:36","slug":"rooney-wonder-goal-inspires-man-utd-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=7913","title":{"rendered":"Rooney wonder goal inspires Man Utd win"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ROO\"<\/a>Wayne Rooney scored two goals, including an exquisite lobbed finish, as Manchester United overcame Robin van Persie’s absence to win at West Ham.<\/p>\n

Rooney, now third in United’s all-time goalscorers list on 212, put his side ahead with a stunning lob from just inside the Hammers’ half.<\/p>\n

The England striker doubled the lead after Mark Noble’s attempted clearance fell straight to Rooney to steer home.<\/p>\n

West Ham were poor, Andy Carroll’s tame header the closest they came to a goal.<\/p>\n

United manager David Moyes, without Netherlands striker van Persie for up to six weeks<\/a> due to a sprained knee, has had little to smile about this season.<\/p>\n

But Rooney’s spectacular eighth minute finish had the Scot out of his seat in the dug-out applauding a truly wonderful goal.<\/p>\n

There were shades of David Beckham’s memorable finish<\/a> from the halfway line for United against Wimbledon in 1996 as Rooney, spotting Adrian well off his line, outmuscled James Tomkins before unleashing a brilliant lob which sailed over the goalkeeper and into the net.<\/p>\n

This was United’s ninth Premier League win away from Old Trafford, where the Red Devils return on Tuesday for the Manchester derby.<\/p>\n

While United’s domestic home form – five defeats in 14 games – continues to frustrate Moyes, he is at least finding some solace on the road.<\/p>\n

With Beckham and England manager Roy Hodgson in the Upton Park main stand, United carried on where they left off after reviving their Champions League campaign<\/a> at Olympiakos’ expense on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Rooney’s spectacular finish set the tone for a comfortable victory to move back to within three points of fifth spot in the table.<\/p>\n

The Hammers should have equalised in the 15th minute.<\/p>\n

But Carroll, who was unmarked, spurned a glorious chance to give Hodgson a reminder of his goalscoring prowess ahead of the World Cup when he headed straight at David De Gea from close range.<\/p>\n

United, who had Michael Carrick as a makeshift centre-back in the absence of the injured Rio Ferdinand and suspended Nemanja Vidic, carried a threat each time they went forward.<\/p>\n

Shinji Kagawa, on only his eighth league start of the campaign, forced a fine save from Adrian before the Spaniard beat away a goal-bound shot from countryman Juan Mata.<\/p>\n

But United, who also recalled Alexander Buttner, Marouane Fellaini, Darren Fletcher and Ashley Young, established a two-goal cushion in the 33rd minute.<\/p>\n

Moments after the Hammers had claims for a penalty waved away when Noble went to ground under a Fletcher challenge, Young powered deep into West Ham’s half.<\/p>\n

His cross fell to Noble who could only kick the ball into Rooney’s path and the United man made no mistake from close range.<\/p>\n

West Ham still have to secure their Premier League survival and face Liverpool (home), Arsenal (away) and Manchester City (away) before the end of the season.<\/p>\n

Sam Allardyce can only hope his team can raise their game after a limp performance.<\/p>\n

The damage had already been done when Fellaini crashed to the ground inside the West Ham penalty area after Antonio Nocerino’s challenge in the closing stages.<\/p>\n

But there were few complaints from the visitors when referee Lee Mason waved away their appeals. United had the points safely in the bag.<\/p>\n

West Ham United manager Sam Allardyce: <\/strong><\/p>\n

“The first goal knocked the stuffing out of us.<\/p>\n

“It’s such a wonderful goal, you’ve got to admire the finish, but to get off to a start like that when we were looking forward to this game, having won the last three at home and trying to get more points on the board.<\/p>\n

“Straight away you’re 1-0 down against a side that have got an abundance of talent.<\/p>\n

“I definitely thought there was a foul [leading up to the first goal].<\/p>\n

“When the ball comes forwards, James Tomkins is going to try and win it. Wayne, not making an attempt for the ball, pushes him with his left arm.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Source: BBC<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wayne Rooney scored two goals, including an exquisite lobbed finish, as Manchester United overcame Robin van Persie’s absence to win at West Ham. Rooney, now third in United’s all-time goalscorers list on 212, put his side ahead with a stunning lob from just inside the Hammers’ half. The England striker doubled the lead after Mark […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":7914,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[29,3],"class_list":["post-7913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-dr-mahamudu-bawumia","tag-ghana-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7913\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}