Rooney relief at finding the net

Wayne Rooney was delighted to end a six-game run without a goal, and a five-month wait to find the net at Old Trafford, with two goals against Aston Villa.

The Reds striker saw a couple of chances go begging and feared his barren spell was set to continue. But after striking twice in a hugely impressive 4-0 victory on Saturday evening, he revealed his relief that the wait was over.

"I'm very pleased," he told Setanta. "It's been a bit frustrating in the last few weeks.

"I had a chance just before I scored that I missed. I should have scored, and I felt like I wasn't going to score again. But I was delighted to get two goals in the end."

Rooney's goals may grab the headlines, but there wasn't a bad performance in a red shirt. Now with just six games to go in the race for the title, United are getter closer and closer to retaining the crown.

"It was a good game for us," he added. "Coming after international matches, it can be tricky. But we got two goals in the first half which settled us down, and then we got two more in the second half. It was a good performance all-round and a well-deserved win.

"Each game we get closer. But we have to keep playing our game and picking up the wins in every game. If we do that that will hopefully see us through."