ve been throwing hip checks my whole career and

[lw789]

LONDON -- Wayne Rooney scored for the first time in two months with a strike of the quality that justifies his lucrative new Manchester United contract as the floundering English Premier League champions won 2-0 at Crystal Palace on Saturday. The striker volleyed in Uniteds second, shortly after Robin Van Persies second-half penalty, a day after ending the uncertainty over his United future by signing a new deal that could earn him more than $140 million until 2019. Such a contract would seem to be beyond the reach of Palace, whose fans appeared to throw coins at Rooney, who flicked them back in their direction. "Its been more or less agreed for a month now and it was just the fine details that needed sorting," said Rooney, who pushed unsuccessfully to leave United last year. "I wanted to get it done as quickly as possible and thankfully its behind me and I can concentrate on my football." United needs Rooney, with just 12 goals this season having missed much of January through injury, to be more prolific for it to have any chance of qualifying for the Champions League next season. Although United ended a three-game winless run and climbed to sixth, David Moyes side was eight points from Liverpool in the fourth Champions League place having played an extra game. And this was a victory against a Palace side that might have sprung from the bottom in recent months with a recovery but was still only two points above the relegation zone. "We moved the ball well, maybe could have created more chances but overall we were in control of the game and once we got one goal we knew wed get another and see the game out," Rooney said. Looking at the team sheet, this is not a United side that should have taken until midway through the second half to score, or be in such a lowly position. The forward line in south London saw Rooney working in tandem with Van Persie and January signing Juan Mata. Uniteds teenage midfield dynamo, Adnan Januzaj, did put the ball in the net early on but it was ruled out because he appeared to control a pass from Van Persie with his arm. And as United struggled in front of goal initially, goalkeeper David de Gea was called into action to block Marouane Chamakhs header. Uniteds Marouane Fellaini, starting his first game since December following wrist and groin injuries, squandered a good chance when he missed the target with the net in sight. It was a dangerous start to the second half by Palace, with De Gea tipping over when under pressure from Glenn Murrays corner, and saving low from Jason Puncheon after Ince sliced over. United looked unable to score, but the breakthrough came after Chamakh, the forward who was back in defence, tripped left back Patrice Evra. From the spot, Van Persie sent Julian Speroni the wrong way to make it 12 goals for the season in the 62nd minute. Suddenly United looked a more confident attacking unit, with Mata setting up Fellaini for a low shot that was saved. But Palace also came close to levelling, with Mile Jedinak playing in Cameron Jerome who fought off defenders to force De Gea into a low diving save with almost his first touch since coming off the bench. Uniteds anxieties were eased by Rooney scoring his first goal since Dec. 26, powering the ball in after Evras cross bobbled over to him, unmarked, in a prime central position. "Sometimes when Wayne has not got time to think, he does things naturally," Moyes said. "He has natural talent and the technique and ability to get his weight behind the ball and strike it cleanly. He works really hard for the team and some of his passing was fantastic." It left Moyes relieved that he prevented Rooney from defecting to a rival. "He would have been too difficult to replace," Moyes said. "There arent enough top players out there that you can get cheaply or easily. Waynes one of them, one of the top players." . Both sides came closest to scoring in the first half, when Roma had a goal from Mattia Destro waved off for offside and Inters Rodrigo Palacio headed high. "A draw was a fair result. Neither squad had many chances," Roma midfielder Miralem Pjanic said. . Solomon Elimimian did not make the trip with the team after suffering what appeared to be a right leg injury in the teams regular season finale against the Calgary Stampeders. http://www.bengalsauthenticproshop.com/ ... ls-Jersey/. Minutes before the final whistle of Sporting Kansas Citys 3-0 victory over a shorthanded Montreal Impact squad on Saturday afternoon, Saputo tweeted: "Our fans deserve better. . -- Syracuse was dangerously close to letting another less talented opponent pull off the upset when C. . Woods said Friday that his charity event, which attracts a world-class field even without being part of any tour, will move in December 2014 to Isleworth, the course where he honed his professional game from 1996 until moving away to south Florida two years ago. OTTAWA -- Craig Anderson and the Ottawa Senators made a statement heading into the holiday break. Anderson stopped 27 shots for his second shutout of the season as Ottawa defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-0 on Monday. "We definitely had one of our better games this year and we played our most consistent game, playing hard-nosed and in their face," Anderson said. "We know they have a good team and they bring it every night and they do things right 99 per cent of the time so we found a way to win the game and do it with conviction." Senators head coach Paul MacLean was pleased with the timing of the emphatic victory. "Its the best way we possibly could (head into the break)," said MacLean. "If we were looking for something under the tree that could be a motivator for us and a feel-good thing for us, beating Pittsburgh 5-0 we can head into this three-day break with a positive attitude." The game was relatively close after two periods but the Senators dominated the Penguins in the third, outshooting them 15-9 while getting goals from Erik Karlsson, Kyle Turris and Cory Conacher. Zack Smith and Bobby Ryan also scored for the Senators (15-17-7) and Anderson earned the 24th shutout of his career. Marc-Andre Fleury made 24 saves for the Penguins (27-22-1), but saw his personal five-game winning streak come to an end. The win ended a three-game losing streak for the Senators with all three of those losses coming in Ottawa since they beat the St. Louis Blues last Monday, also at the Canadian Tire Centre. "I thought our response to the game tonight was workman like and our penalty killers did yeomen work and the difference in the game was that we obviously killed off those power plays," said MacLean after his team survived all seven short-handed situations, while scoring once in three power-play opportunities themselves. The Penguins had won 12 of their last 13 games in Ottawa, including seven in a row. Pittsburgh had only been shut out once this season as they fell 1-0 at home to the Colorado Avalanche on Oct. 21. The shutout was the first for the Senators since they blanked the Buffalo Sabres 1-0 in their first game of the season. Defenceman Marc Methot set an early tone that it was going to be a physical night. With the Penguins breaking towards the Ottawa goal, Methot took Sidney Crosby out with a hard hip check. Crosby wasnt hurt on the play but his spinning body was catapulted into Pascal Dupuis who went down and hit hard into the end boards. Dupuis left the game with what was later described as a lower body injury and did not return.dddddddddddd Crosby was mostly ineffective the rest of the game and his immediate reaction after the game was not a good one. "I havent seen the replay. I dont know how low it was. He almost blew my knee out so it was pretty low," Crosby said. "I dont know if it was right above my knee or above my hip, but it was awfully close." Methot politely disagreed. "I have a ton of respect for that player," said Methot. "I think hes one of the best players in the world and you have to play him hard and that was our goal." The two players had a lengthy discussion before play resumed while Dupuis was attended to behind the net. "He wasnt happy about it and I wouldnt be happy either so I dont blame him for coming at me a bit," said Methot. "I thought it was a clean hit. Ive been throwing hip checks my whole career and Im six-foot three and I dont think I can get much lower than his knees." Smith opened the scoring at 6:54 of the first period when he put a backhand in a very small opening between Fleurys left skate and the post after the Penguins netminder made a pad save on Cody Ceci. Anderson held Pittsburgh at bay and stopped two Penguins on breakaways in the second period, including one shorthanded by Brandon Sutter. The other was a glove save off James Neal. In between those breakaways, Ryan scored his first goal in four games when he directed a point shot from Chris Phillips past Fleury at 5:56. It came on the same power play that the Senators surrendered on Sutters breakaway. "A big part of the game was when they get the power play goal to go up 2-0 and we have several chances on the power play," Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said. "We had several good opportunities to score but we dont cash in and certainly the game turns on that stretch where we had three power plays in the second and we dont get a goal." The Penguins head into the break leading the eastern Conference while the Senators are in 10th place four points out of a playoff spot. Notes- Patrick Wiercioch, Joe Corvo and Mika Zibanejad were scratches for the Senators Monday and for the Penguins, Deryk Engelland, Brian Gibbons and Evgeni Malkin were scratchesaOttawa is now 7-1-3 this season when leading a game after two periodaSenators defenceman Chris Phillips snapped a 10-game pointless streak with a second-period assistaSidney Crosby at least one point in 31 of Pittsburghs 39 games this seasonaMarc-Andre Fleury has played 499 career games, all with the PenguinsaPenguins forward Chris Cooner turned 30 on Monday. ' ' '