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Robin van Persie ended his barren run against Hull City, on a night from which Manchester United can take several positives. The injury-beleaguered Radamel Falcao returned to action in place of Robin van Persie, who received a standing ovation as he was being taken off. The Colombian almost scored in the last stages of the match, and it was only a goal-line clearance by Richard Dawson which kept the winning margin at 3.
Chris Smalling gave the home team a lead after nudging in the ball into goal after a penalty-box scramble. Goalkeeper Allan McGregor helped the ball into the net despite his best efforts, and goal-line technology was used to confirm the first goal of the match.
There were some early concerns for United as Angel di Maria left the field in the 13th minute of the match clutching the back of his thigh. Michael Carrick and Juan Mata, however, marshalled the midfield very effectively and ensured that there were no chinks in the Manchester midfield on the night.
Wayne Rooney showed excuisite placement with a shot from 25 yards to give United a 2-0 lead before half time, and it was Robin van Persie who finished off the match in the 66th minute. He took his time to receive the ball and get into the perfect shooting position, and then unleashed a left-footed blaster that flew into the top left corner.
Hull City never offerred too much resistance and lacked ambition, such that Manchester United ended up with 77% of the ball possession at the end of the match.
The result puts Manchester United on fourth spot in the Premier League table, within touching distance of Manchester City and Southampton, who are on 3rd and 2nd spots respectively.
Here are the goals from the match.
Manchester United 1-0 Hull City: Smalling (16’)
Manchester United 2-0 Hull City: Rooney (42’)
Manchester United 1-0 Hull City: Van Persie (66’)
