Manchester United 3 Fulham 0: Rooney hits the mark once again to maintain push for top

Although they wasted a huge number of chances, with Dimitar Berbatov the prime culprit, United did enough to re-establish their dominant position with eight games of the campaign remaining.

Rooney provided a suitably quick-fire response after a goalless first half and after he converted Berbatov's cross seven minutes from time to leave him just 10 adrift of Cristiano Ronaldo's massive total of two years ago, Berbatov ended a frustrating afternoon by finally getting his name on the scoresheet.

It has come to that stage in the season where every round of fixtures bring their own pressure.

And, on the occasion chosen to mark Old Trafford's 100th birthday, it was United needing to follow Chelsea and Arsenal, who after initial struggles, had ended up with three points Saturday.

On the face of it, a Fulham side in the middle of a titanic Europa League tie with Juventus would appear to be the perfect opponents.

Yet, as Ferguson pointed out in the build-up, Roy Hodgson has revolutionised life at Craven Cottage and masterminded a three-goal victory over these same opponents in December.

At the time, United were severely weakened by a loss of defenders.

With Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic back those problems are now at an end. On this occasion, it was United's attack that misfired.

The hosts had plenty of possession and got into the right areas often enough.

But at some stage, all their first half attacks broke down.

Rooney was grumbling at half-time after being hauled down by Stephen Kelly without winning a penalty. He was all smiles 29 seconds after the restart though.

A scrappy build-up saw Berbatov nod the ball into his strike partner's path. Rooney then fed Nani before advancing into the big hole Fulham's disorientated defence had left.

Once Nani delivered the return pass back into exactly the same area, the outcome was inevitable.

Rooney and Berbatov both then failed to profit from decent chances as United pressed before Berbatov created yet another goal for Rooney with a neat cut-back seven minutes from time.

Berbatov, the 30.75m man finally located the target himself, from Park's cross, to complete a scoreline more in keeping with the one-sided nature of proceedings.