NANI STUNNER GETS UNITED OFF MARK

A stunning 30-yard strike from Portuguese winger Nani shot down Tottenham at Old Trafford and gave champions Manchester United their first win of the Premier League season.

The youngster, a big-money buy from Sporting Lisbon in the summer, blasted a sensational long-range effort past Paul Robinson and into the top corner of the Spurs net, aided by a slight deflection off Carlos Tevez.

It had taken Sir Alex Ferguson's men 68 long minutes to break the deadlock on an afternoon when Martin Jol's visitors could have embarrassed them yet further.

From the early seconds, when Robbie Keane grazed the top of Edwin van der Sar's crossbar with a cracking strike, the London side provided a real threat up front.

And two incidents just before Nani's winner will make defeat a bitter pill to swallow for them.

First Dimitar Berbatov, lively all afternoon, prodded the ball through van der Sar's legs. It seemed certain his effort would roll over the line but in the nick of time Rio Ferdinand arrived to clear.

Spurs then had a strong penalty appeal turned down as Berbatov beat Vidic, before powering his shot goalwards with van der Sar looking on helplessly.

The ball struck the falling Wes Brown and Berbatov led fierce Spurs protests as referee Howard Webb waved their appeals for a penalty away.

Two years ago Spurs were denied victory at Old Trafford when that long-range Pedro Mendes strike was wrongly ruled out, and once again here they were out of luck on a visit to the Theatre Of Dreams.

Mark Viduka was on target on his return to the Riverside Stadium as Middlesbrough and Newcastle played out an eventful 2-2 draw.

The visitors opened the scoring in the 22nd minute when Charles N'Zogbia cut in from the left and unleashed a thunderbolt with his right boot from 25 yards which left Mark Schwarzer with no chance.

That sparked Boro into life though and they equalised six minutes later when Fabio Rochemback's clever chip over the top found Mido, who controlled expertly on his chest before rounding Steve Harper and stroking home his second goal in two games.

Gareth Southgate's men came out firing at the start of the second period with Rochemback having an effort bloked by Harper, while at the other end James Milner drilled straight at Schwarzer.

Newcastle restored their advantage with 13 minutes to go when Viduka controlled superbly in the area before volleying past Schwarzer - his first goal for the Toon.

However that lead lasted just three minutes as Boro hit back again, this time Julio Arca lashing home from the edge of the box after the visiting defence had failed to clear Rochemback's ball in.

taken from =football365=