12 February 2007, by Sean Gillen

Scrappy United clock up another three points

Manchester United 2-0 Charlton Athletic

Manchester United managed without Cristiano Ronaldo to claim all three points after a below-par performance against struggling Charlton at Old Trafford.

The Portuguese was ruled out with a heavy cold and was joined on the sidelines by Michael Carrick, who suffered a groin injury in training. However, replacements Ji-Sung Park and Darren Fletcher were on hand to score the goals that kept United’s six-point lead at the top of the Premiership intact.

The home side’s performance was far from convincing, and an early save from Charlton goalkeeper Scott Carson to deny Park and an even more impressive stop from United stand-in Tomas Kuszczak from Darren Ambrose was the only notable action from the opening twenty minutes.

The home fans’ nerves were settled, however, when Korean winger Park gave them the lead on 24 minutes. Patrice Evra’s cross from the left was deflected into the six-yard box, and Park rose to head past Carson for his second goal of the season.

Rooney magic

Wayne Rooney came close to adding a second with some wonderful individual skill. Ryan Giggs’ long ball picked Rooney out inside the box, and after a sublime touch to control, the England forward flicked the ball over the head of Diawara before dragging his finish wide.

United’s performance was equally scrappy in the second half, and Henrik Larsson was introduced in place of Ryan Giggs as manager Alex Ferguson looked to secure the win with the all-important second goal.

Charlton almost produced a shock equaliser fifteen minutes from time when Denis Rommedahl’s whipped free-kick was flicked off the head of Marcus Bent and took a nick off Gary Neville before flying inches past the post.

The game was finally made safe with eight minutes remaining when Larsson put Rooney through on goal and after the youngster was denied by Carson, Rooney showed brilliant vision to pick out Fletcher in the middle for the Scot to head in from five metres.

Man Utd:
Kuszczak, Neville, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Fletcher, Scholes, Giggs (Larsson 63), Park, Rooney, Saha (Richardson 81)
Yellow Cards: None

Charlton:
Carson, Sankofa, Bougherra, Diawara, Thatcher, Rommedahl, Song Billong, Holland (Hughes 73), Faye (Zheng 40), Ambrose (Lisbie 73), Marcus Bent
Yellow Cards: Diawara (33)

Goals:
[1-0] Park, 24
[2-0] Fletcher, 84