United survive Tigers fright

Man Utd survived a second-half fightback from Hull City to earn a nervous 4-3 victory.

Premier League new boys rattle champions' cage

Manchester United survived a second-half fightback from Hull City to earn a nervous 4-3 Premier League victory at Old Trafford. The Tigers - who have made an impressive start to their campaign - visited United for the first time in 33 years in determined mood following a midweek hammering by Chelsea. But their focus was ruffled as early as the third minute at the home of the champions as Ronaldo opened the scoring with his left foot after a give-and-go with Dimitar Berbatov. Hull, however, demonstrated the spirit which stunned Arsenal earlier in the campaign as Daniel Cousin equalised 20 minutes later when heading in an Andy Dawson free-kick. But United were soon back in front as a trademark counter-attack ended with midfielder Michael Carrick netting from 18 yards, and Ronaldo - with the aid of a slight deflection off Paul McShane - nodded in a third at a Nani corner. Twelve minutes after the interval, centre-back Nemanja Vidic took advantage of some more adrift Hull defending to steer in a Wayne Rooney corner at the near post to put United in cruise control. Hull, though, made their hosts sweat as substitute Bernard Mendy lobbed Edwin van der Sar on 69 minutes before Geovanni set up a thrilling climax as he converted from the penalty spot. But it was just too little too late for Phil Brown's side, who will have won fresh admirers after a pulsating duel.

Buckle

They refused to buckle even after Ronaldo had given United a third minute lead, although the slack marking that allowed the Portuguese to exchange passes with Berbatov before seeing his shot cannon in off Boaz Myhill's left-hand post would eventually return to haunt them. Midway through the half, the normally dependable Vidic had a tug at Marlon King's shirt, presenting Dawson with the opportunity to curl a dangerous free-kick into the heart of United's penalty area. Cousin rose above a crowd of bodies, glanced his header beyond Van der Sar and Hull's army of fans dared to dream. Had Brown's men held United for any length of time, they might have ended up with something, although their naive defending would always lead to trouble at this level. As it was, just six minutes elapsed before Vidic and Rooney combined to set up a lightning counter-attack in which Berbatov took the ball on before feeding Carrick to his left, who hit the same post as Ronaldo had done, with exactly the same result. Myhill beat away a Ronaldo effort, then Rooney had a goal correctly disallowed for a marginal offside decision before Nani drifted a corner to the near post two minutes before the interval which Ronaldo powered home.

Damage

Although the next goal would have brought Hull back into it, Brown knew damage limitation was the order of the day as the teams re-emerged. For 15 minutes, United peppered the Hull goal, with Ronaldo and Berbatov going close. They scored once, when Vidic turned home Rooney's corner. But Ferguson wanted more and introduced Carlos Tevez for Nani. It meant United had £90million-worth of attacking talent on the pitch, plus Ronaldo, whose goal tally had shot up to seven. Amazingly though, Hull were the ones who scored as substitute Mendy out-jumped Patrice Evra, then beat Van der Sar with a lob which had crossed the line before Vidic hooked it out. Still Ferguson was not deterred and with Ryan Giggs on as well, United were playing fantasy football as Rooney, Tevez and Berbatov all threatened. The commitment to attack left them vulnerable at the back and as Hull shared the same instinct, it was no surprise Mendy found himself in the United box once more. Ferdinand hauled him back. Geovanni converted the penalty and a capacity crowd were treated to a pulsating last eight minutes in which tempers became as short as the entertainment value had been long. Rooney was among those booked as his fuse threatened to burn out completely. It lasted just long enough, as did United's slender lead.

Manchester United	Team Statistics	Hull City
4	Goals	3
3	1st Half Goals	1
9	Shots on Target	6
9	Shots off Target	4
4	Blocked Shots	1
9	Corners	1
13	Fouls	13
2	Offsides	1
2	Yellow Cards	2
0	Red Cards	0
77.5	Passing Success	72.2
14	Tackles	27
50	Tackles Success	74.1
53.9	Possession	46.1
48.1	Territorial Advantage	51.9