Rooney relieved after fightback

27 December 2009 18:32
WAYNE Rooney admitted his relief after playing the central role in United's second-half rally to beat struggling Hull after his error almost cost them the points. The England striker gave his side the lead moments before half-time at the KC Stadium, but his woefully misplaced pass allowed Hull to win a penalty from which Craig Fagan equalised. Fagan intercepted the errant back-pass and crossed to Jozy Altidore, who was bundled over by Rafael da Silva to allow Fagan to beat Tomasz Kuszczak from the spot. Rooney looked towards manager Sir Alex Ferguson in distress but channelled his energies into forcing Andy Dawson into an own goal and exquisitely setting up Dimitar Berbatov. He said: "Obviously when they got the equaliser it was a mistake by myself and thankfully we got the win, or I don't think the manager would have been too pleased with me. "It wasn't a nice feeling, I didn't want to let the lads down and at the time it looked like that but it happens and we got the win in the end." The win took United within two points of Premier League leaders Chelsea, and Rooney admitted: "I think it's a mad league, a lot of teams are dropping points and it's really close. Hopefully we can be more consistent in the second half (of the season) and retain our title. "We knew it was a big game. We had some good breaks and thankfully we got some goals at the end. "It was quite open. Hull committed a lot of men forward and it did leave us spaces to counter-attack."

Source: Manchester_EveningNews