Manchester, England - Wayne Rooney scored twice to fire Manchester United past Premiership rivals Portsmouth at Old Trafford and into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

After ending a seven-game goal-drought at Arsenal last week, the England striker stepped off the bench to tap home from Ryan Giggs's cross with just 13 minutes remaining.

Rooney confirmed he is back to his very best six minutes later when he floated an exquisite chip over the head of Portsmouth keeper David James from more than 20 yards to put the tie beyond doubt.

Portsmouth rallied and an 87th minute reply from Kanu, who did not know too much about his deflection of a shot from team-mate Pedro Mendes, gave the visitors hope of forcing a replay.


But United were not to be denied and there was no doubt the afternoon belonged to Rooney, whose stunning 30-minute display rescued his side and also prevented an angry post-match inquest into two decisions that denied the home side goals earlier in the match.

Serbian defender Nemanja Vidic was denied in the first half when his header was cleared by Mendes from behind the goal-line.

Mendes was entitled to feel that justice had been done two years after he was denied in similar circumstances when playing for Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford two years ago, although that was no consolation for Sir Alex Ferguson who protested furiously on the touchline.

And until Rooney struck, it looked as though United would suffer from a double dose of bad luck when Henrik Larsson's superb second half volley was wrongly ruled out for offside after the Swede met Gary Neville's through ball with a perfectly timed run.

Despite those chances, United rarely dominated a game which Portsmouth always looked capable of taking to a replay at the very least.

Right from the opening moments the South Coast side tested the home back-four and midfielder Richard Hughes came close with an early shot that flew narrowly over the bar.

United were reliant on Ryan Giggs for their creative spark and the veteran winger looked the one player capable of settling the game before Rooney was introduced.

And even then it was Giggs's pace and composure that allowed him to surge past Glen Johnson and pick out Rooney who had the simplest of tasks to send United into the lead.

After last weekend's defeat at Arsenal, Ferguson's side needed a confidence-boosting win and Rooney's superb second provided exactly the kind of response Ferguson had been hoping for.

The striker collected the ball off Neville, found time to look up and see the excellent David James off his line before sending the ball over the goalkeeper and into the net off the underside of the bar.

IOL.CO.ZA