Manchester United 3
  Newcastle United 1

 

Starting Lineup

  

Starting Lineup
  1.
12.
2.
6.
27.
4.
16.
8.
18.
10.
20.		 Barthez, Fabien
Neville, Philip
Neville, Gary
Blanc, Laurent
Silvestre, Mikael
Veron, Juan Sebastian
Keane, Roy
Butt, Nicky
Scholes, Paul
van Nistelrooy, Ruud
Solskjaer, Ole Gunnar
Goalscorers
Manchester United Newcastle United
Ruud van Nistelrooy 24
Paul Scholes 50, 62		 Alan Shearer 69
Substitutions
Manchester United Newcastle United
Dwight Yorke Ruud van Nistelrooy 66
David Beckham Ole Gunnar Solskjaer 85		 Oliver Bernard Nolberto Solano 81
Shola Ameobi Craig Bellamy 81
 
Bookings
Manchester United Newcastle United
Yellow
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer 22 Nolberto Solano 51
Red
none none
Additional Notes
Referee: P. Jones
Attendance: 67,646
  1.
18.
34.
24.
3.
4.
8.
7.
11.
9.
17.		 Given, Shay
Hughes, Aaron
Dabizas, Nikos
Distin, Sylvain
Elliott, Robbie
Solano, Nolberto
Dyer, Kieron
Lee, Robert
Speed, Gary
Shearer, Alan
Bellamy, Craig

Substitutes

Substitutes
  19.
7.
13.
30.
3.		 Yorke, Dwight
Beckham, David
Carroll, Roy
O`Shea, John
Irwin, Denis
  35.
23.
5.
13.
20.		 Bernard, Olivier
Ameobi, Shola
O`Brien, Andrew
Harper, Steve
Lua-Lua, Tresor Lomano
Match Report
The Reds received an eighth minute let-off when Philip Neville was forced to make a headed goal-line clearance to keep out Gary Speed's well struck volley.

Van Nistlerooy then forced Newcastle 'keeper Shay Given into a desperate save low to his left to turn his shot away for a corner. The deadlock was broken in the 24th minute, when van Nistelrooy found the net for the 19th time this season. He was left completely unmarked in the six-yard box to head home Mikael Silvestre's left-wing cross. It was Nicky Butt's raking crossfield pass that released Solskjaer, who in turn sent Silvestre scurrying away down the left.

Newcastle had the ball in the net three minutes before the break, but Nolberto Solano's header was ruled out for a push on Silvestre. United doubled their lead five minutes after the restart, following a superb move involving Butt, Silvestre and Solskjaer, who squared the ball to Scholes to rifle home a shot low to the right of Given.

It completed United's half century of goals for the campaign. Newcastle didn't throw in the towel and remained a threat with Solano and Craig Bellamy both going close. Any hopes Newcastle had of getting back into the game disappeared in the 63rd minute when United scored their third. Solskjaer released Roy Keane on the right and the United captain drove to the by-line and pulled the ball back across the face of goal for Scholes to slot home his second at the far post.

Newcastle were finally rewarded for their efforts in the 69th minute when Shearer marked his double century of appearances for Newcastle with a fine goal. He scored with a glancing header from Robbie Elliot's left-wing cross, which flew high to the left of United 'keeper Fabien Barthez from 12 yards.

Remarkably, it was Shearer's first ever league goal at Old Trafford, though he had previously scored in other competitions. The hard-working Solskjaer was desperately unlucky not to get on the score-sheet and, in the closing stages, fired twice into the side netting as United came close to restoring their three-goal advantage.