16 October 2006, by Sean Gillen

Rooney hits form as United stay top

Wigan Athletic 1-3 Manchester United

Manchester United coped without Cristiano Ronaldo by coming from behind to beat Wigan and stay top of the Premier League after a much-improved second half performance at the JJB Stadium. Two goals in four minutes from Nemanja Vidic and Louis Saha, followed by a late Ole Gunnar Solskjaer striker saw the visitors leave with maximum points after the Latics had taken an early lead.

Portuguese star, and man of the moment at Old Trafford, Ronaldo, was ruled out of the short trip to Wigan after failing to recover from an ankle injury sustained while playing for his country against Poland in midweek. Although United were without the winger, Alex Ferguson welcomed back French striker Saha, who missed the last game against Newcastle.

Things looked daunting for United when Wigan took a shock lead on five minutes. Full-back Leighton Baines smashed a 30-yard free-kick into the top corner to stun the visitors and give the Latics the lead.

United grew as time went on, but struggled to create many clear-cut goalscoring opportunities. Wayne Rooney, recently struggling for form, produced the best moment of the first period just before the 25-minute mark when he turned in the area and fired against the crossbar.

Alex Ferguson made a significant change at the break, introducing fit again Ryan Giggs for right-back Wes Brown, and the result was far more space in the final third for the United attackers in the second half.

The change in United was instant, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer doing well to make room for himself inside the box, evading two challenges before shooting over. Rooney then found Saha with a sublime ball with the outside of the foot, only for the Frenchman to fire wide when well placed inside the box.

United drew level just after the hour mark when a Ryan Giggs corner was met with a powerful header from Serbian defender Nemanja Vidic, who scored his first goal since arriving at the club in January.

Saha made up for his earlier miss as United went ahead just four minutes later. Rooney’s ball from the left was controlled superbly by Saha, who then fired in off the post for his sixth goal of the season as United began to totally dominate their opponents.

Wayne Rooney almost confirmed his return to form with a clever lob, but the ball landed on the roof of the net, before Ryan Giggs had a penalty appeal turned down and Saha shot straight at Kirkland.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer wrapped up the win in stoppage time after a great one-two with Rooney resulted in the veteran Norwegian forward firing into the bottom corner from the edge of the area.

The result briefly put United three points clear of Chelsea, but after the Blues’ win at Reading United stay top due to a superior goal difference. Next up for the Red Devils is a home clash in the Champions League with Copenhagen, before they meet bitter rivals Liverpool next Sunday.

Wigan:
Kirkland, Boyce, Hall, De Zeeuw, Baines, Teale (Valencia 69), Landzaat, Scharner, Kilbane (Todorov 69), Camara (McCulloch 60), Heskey
Yellow Cards: None

Man Utd:
Van der Sar, Brown (Giggs 45), Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Solskjaer, Carrick, O'Shea, Scholes, Rooney, Saha
Yellow Cards: Ferdinand (28), O’Shea (40)

Goals:
[1-0] Baines, 5
[1-1] Vidic, 62
[1-2] Saha, 66
[1-3] Solskjaer, 90