United frustrated by 10-man Royals

12 April 2012

Wayne Rooney suffered a serious-looking foot injury as Manchester United stumbled at the first hurdle in their Barclays Premier League title defence, held to an Old Trafford draw by 10-man Reading.

With Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea all scrambling victories from their opening fixtures, United immediately find themselves adrift after a game of missed chances.

Not even the dismissal of Dave Kitson, just 37 seconds after his introduction as a second-half substitute, could provide the opening United so desperately searched for. But by far the worst problem could be Rooney's, who went down immediately after Michael Duberry had accidentally landed on his foot and failed to reappear for the second half.

While Rooney buzzed around dangerously in the opening stages, Ryan Giggs prodded and probed and Cristiano Ronaldo - man-marked by Nicky Shorey - threatened after a slow start, United did not really trouble Reading goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann.

Rooney went close on a couple of occasions, the second of which saw him steer Michael Carrick's low cross just over. It was that chance which ended with Duberry accidentally landing on his foot.

Instantly, it became apparent Rooney had a problem and when he went down and removed his boot, a shudder must have gone down Ferguson's spine. Although the England forward was able to resume after the briefest of treatment, his movement was anything but free and as the half-time whistle went, off came the boot again as he headed down the tunnel.

The only positive for Ferguson was that Rooney's replacement, £17million new-boy Nani, caused plenty of havoc himself during pre-season.

John O'Shea, who played as a forward after coming on for the injured Mikael Silvestre, did manage to force Hahnemann into an instinctive save after Ronaldo and Paul Scholes had combined to set him up but a dramatic contest was given another twist 18 minutes from time when Kitson flew in at Evra with his studs raised.

Kitson had been on the field for exactly 37 seconds, and touched the ball only once, but referee Rob Styles had no hesitation in brandishing the red card.