Vidic late show keeps United on course

Nemanja Vidic's injury-time goal finally saw Manchester United overcome a spirited Sunderland side to win 1-0 at Old Trafford here Saturday.

Victory ensured the reigning English Premier League champions remained in third place, six points behind leaders and bitter rivals Liverpool.

Earlier, Cristiano Ronaldo made a bizarre exit, substituting himself midway through the second-half due to an apparent rib injury.

The Portugal winger, recently crowned the European Footballer of the Year, appeared in some distress as he signalled to the bench, but instead of waiting for a replacement to be readied, he simply limped off the pitch and disappeared up the tunnel in the 65th minute.

It was an unusual moment to say the least, but Vidic's late strike, a close range tap-in after Michael Carrick's shot had been pushed onto the post, ensured that Ronaldo's exit did not prove too costly.

With former United coach Ricky Sbragia taking temporary charge of Sunderland following former Red Devils favourite Roy Keane's resignation as manager on Thursday, the visitors would have been fully aware of what to expect.

Short on confidence and languishing in the bottom three before the start of play, a trip to the home of the European champions would have been the last thing that Sunderland wanted.

But United's failure to capitalise on lengthy periods of possession during the first-half, a regular problem this season, at least enabled Keane's former team to go in level at the half-time interval.

United were in total command in the first-half and they should have scored at least three goals in the early stages.

Dimitar Berbatov was the first United culprit when he failed to take advantage of a clear scoring chance on 12 minutes. After receiving a pass from Ronaldo inside the Sunderland penalty area, the unmarked Berbatov wastefully aimed his shot straight at goalkeeper Marton (eds note: correct) Fulop.

Moments later, a dangerous looking free-kick on the edge of the penalty area resulted in Ronaldo passing square to Wayne Rooney 25 yards from goal.

It was a novel idea, but Rooney's powerful strike was blocked by a posse of Sunderland defenders.

The Black Cats had no answer to United's dominance, but equally, the home side could not take advantage and another chance went astray when Rooney sent a volley wide of goal shortly before the interval.

United were up against a team lacking any kind of attacking ambition and Sunderland began the second-half with eight men behind the ball.

Only Steed Malbranque and Djibril Cisse seemingly had licence to roam anywhere near the United half.

Chances continued to come and go for the home side and after Rooney, Darren Fletcher and Ronaldo had spurned further opportunities, United boss Sir Alex Ferguson called Carlos Tevez off the bench and sent on the Argentinian in place of Park Ji-Sung.

Having scored four goals against Blackburn in midweek, Tevez would have felt hard done by to have been dropped for this game, but he now had the chance to make a point to the United manager.

And although he did not score, Tevez's energy made a difference and he worried the Sunderland defence enough before Vidic's strike to justify his introduction.