Wayne Rooney has hailed what he feels was a hard-fought Manchester United win over Sunderland at Old Trafford this afternoon.
Gus Poyet's men battled hard against the Red Devils and both sides headed in locked at 0-0 after the first 45 minutes, with the Black Cats hoping to again frustrate Manchester United in the second period.
But Manchester United made the breakthrough in a bizarre turn of events. Sunderland defender Wes Brown was sent off in the 64th minute for fouling Radamel Falcao, even though it appeared John O'Shea was the culprit, and the Black Cats players protested.
Rooney then struck from the penalty spot in the 66th minute to break Sunderland's resolve.
A second goal in the game came from the skipper in the 84th minute to make sure of the points for the Red Devils and leave Rooney delighted at passing a tough test.
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"It's great to score but the three points are the most important thing after last week. We deserved the three points", he was quoted as saying by the BBC.
"We knew Sunderland would be dogged. They defended well, but we were patient. It was a good performance.
"The performance was good. We had a bit more space with the 10 men, but we should have been ahead before that."
Manchester United, who are desperate to finish in the top four this season, are now third in the Premier League table with 50 points from 27 games.
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