Premier League: Moyes sticks by Rooney after United are held
CARDIFF CITY 2 vs MANCHESTER UNITED 2
MANCHESTER United boss David Moyes insisted last night that referee Neil Swarbrick was right not to send off Wayne Rooney during a dramatic draw at Cardiff, despite the England man appearing to kick out at midfielder Jordon Mutch.
United took the lead twice yesterday with goals from Rooney and Patrice Evra coming either side of Fraizer Campbell’s strike for the home side. In the final minutes a header from Kim Bo-Kyung earned Cardiff a point, yet United could have been down to 10 men before any of the goals were scored.
A fractious game, the tie was bookended with controversy after Cardiff’s Guy Medel also escaped punishment late on despite seeming to hit United’s Marouane Fellaini.
“No, I didn’t think so,” said Moyes when asked if Rooney was lucky to stay on the pitch. “The boy runs across his line and Wayne’s sort of half stumbling half falling to the back of him. I thought the referee got it right to give a yellow card.”
Rooney opened the scoring on 15 minutes. After a mistake by Ben Turner, Rooney received the ball inside the box and drove a deflected shot hard past David Marshall.
A superb through-ball by Mutch on 33 minutes put in Campbell, who finished past the outrushing David De Gea. However, United’s lead was regained by a close-range Evra header from an inswinging Rooney corner just before half-time.
A frenetic end saw Kim nod in a free-kick. And just moments later Rooney was presented with a one-on-one, but fluffed the chance.