Manchester United had their defenders to thank at both ends of the pitch for their victory over Newcastle.
Sir Alex Ferguson was a happy man as he watched Manchester United take full advantage of Newcastle's generosity to win 3-0 at St James' Park and climb into second place in the PremierLeague.
United were handed a flying start as the Magpies' makeshift defence crumbled horrifically on two occasions inside the opening 16 minutes to allow first Jonny Evans and then Patrice Evra to head home.
Alan Pardew's men rallied in determined fashion and might have been back in the game five minutes into the second half, but Demba Ba's header came back off the bar and Papiss Cisse's follow-up was clawed onto the post by keeper David de Gea with the home contingent claiming the ball had crossed the line.
But Tom Cleverley's 71st-minute strike from long range ensured the visitors avenged their 3-0 defeat at St James' Park last season in fine style. The bulk of a crowd of 52,203 trudged away knowing their team had contributed to its own downfall with the kind of calamitous defending which has plagued them for years, but had, until today, become less common since their return to the top flight.
they made nifemi donald proud
I can see you are a Red Devil fan.
Manchester United till this world end.Up Ferguson
hmmmn....the red devils fans in the building.
UNITED 4 life
Lobatan! When you see three red devil fans you got to take cover....lol
who wan dare united there?
Ferguson should reconsider the idea of selling Nani.It won't be cool by me at all.Make the man think am over abeg
I think he should be sold off.
I miss our ex-keeper Edwin Vanderser.With him in our goal, we would have been topping the league table by now
Even Newcastle knew they met a tough team.They were very poor on the night