Magpies suffer opening defeat

16 August 2010 23:00
Dimitar Berbatov repaid the faith of Sir Alex Ferguson by sending Manchester United on their way to a comfortable 3-0 season-opening Premier League victory over Newcastle. Berbatov was handed a starting berth alongside Wayne Rooney and responded by drilling home an excellent 33rd-minute effort at Old Trafford. The Bulgarian should have had another goal after half-time but, after Darren Fletcher had doubled the Red Devils' advantage shortly before the break, it was evergreen substitute Ryan Giggs who extended his remarkable record of scoring in every Premier League season when he latched on to Paul Scholes' inspired pass and sent a first-time volley bouncing past Steve Harper. United bagged the opener as Antonio Valencia showed admirable determination in getting back to win possession for his team which John O'Shea quickly moved forward to Scholes. The old master wasted no time in pushing the ball towards Berbatov, who was marginally onside and steadied himself before drilling a shot from an acute angle into the far left corner. Rooney then failed to control Patrice Evra's low cross and succeeded only in prodding the ball towards Fletcher, whose smart turn and finish brought an admiring nod of approval from the unselfish England man. And it was the tracer-bullet accuracy of Giggs that proved to be the difference late on after he had been picked out by his old friend Scholes.

Source: PA