A brace from Wayne Rooney has handed Manchester United a 2-0 lead at Old Trafford in their Premier League clash against Newcastle United.
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The Magpies had a good chance to open the scoring in the 12th minute as Adam Armstrong beat his man down the right and crossed in for the unmarked Ayoze Perez, but the striker missed the ball completely with an attempted volley.
Newcastle had a great shout for a penalty turned down by referee Mike Jones when Juan Mata appeared to clip the legs of Yoan Gouffran as he raided into the box in a surging move.
The Red Devils immediately pressed at the opposite end as Robin van Persie was released by a ball over the top of the Newcastle defence. The striker rounded Jak Alnwick, but his strike from a tight ankle hit the side-netting.
Daryl Janmaat came close to firing his side into the lead with a powerful drive from the edge of the area, but his strike was well saved by David de Gea.
The Spaniard's stop proved to be crucial as United went ahead in the 23rd minute as Mata picked out the run of Radamel Falcao over the top and the forward did extremely well to slide the ball back to Rooney, who was left with a simple tap-in.
United doubled their lead as Rooney notched his second goal of the game when he latched on to a through-ball from Mata and slotted the ball past Alnwick into the bottom corner.
Simon Sinclair
