'This was a far more laboured victory than in their encounter a week earlier in Cardiff, and substantially more problematic than might have been anticipated given Graeme Souness's list of absentees. Newcastle led at half-time and had begun to dare imagine their first victory at Old Trafford since 1972 when the match was turned upside down by a moment of inspiration from Wayne Rooney so sumptuous that only the most ardent Geordie will resent the frequency with which it is replayed on our television screens.
Rooney has conjured up a bewitching portfolio this season - the debut hat-trick against Fenerbahce and the volleyed goal against Middlesbrough stand out in particular - but nothing comes close to the volley that speared off his right boot into Shay Given's net. It was a moment that exhausted all the usual superlatives and one that precipitated a comeback culminating in Wes Brown heading in the winner from a Giggs corner.
By half-time Ferguson was faced with the queasy possibility of his side scoring only one goal in six league matches for the first time since a banner was unfurled in the Stretford End in December 1989 proclaiming: "Three years of excuses and we're still crap - tara Fergie."
The second-half recovery spared him from such reminiscences but he is still acutely aware that since the Premiership began in 1992 United have averaged 77 league goals and, in 1999-2000, greedily accumulated 97. With four games remaining they have managed only 50 this season and are still 14 short of last year's dreary total of 64.
"I just can't understand it," said Ferguson, but perhaps he should centre his inquiries on his decision two seasons ago to begin most matches with only one striker. Even the summarisers on MUTV, a station of unashamed sycophancy, have questioned Ferguson's policy of abandoning 4-4-2 in favour of a more continental system.'
The final word should go to Souness and that Rooney goal:
"It was a wonder strike," Graeme Souness, sporting his most impenetrable stare and reflecting upon Newcastle's fifth successive defeat, muttered through clenched teeth. "They weren't causing us any real problems but it was truly outstanding."