From The Touchlines

ROONEY HITS BACK: Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney (left) jubilates after scoring United’s third goal in their 4-2 defeat of Everton.

A goalkeeping blunder, an own goal by Phil Neville and a goal by former Evertonian hitman Wayne Rooney paved the way for a comprehensive Manchester United victory over Everton, after what had seemed to be a straightforward route to victory for the home side.

Despite taking a two-goal lead at Goodison Park, David Moyes’ men were powerless to stop Manchester United from drawing level and then netting the winners, of which youngster Chris Eagles also had a share of the cake in the 4-2 win over their opponents.

The win comes as a big bonus to United, as news of Chelsea’s 2-2 draw against Bolton Wanderers filtered in, which means United have now opened up a five-point gap against the defending champions.

Both teams started with compounding injury problems, with Everton’s Andy Johnson out with injury and James McFadden as well as James Beattie passing late fitness tests. Tim Howard missed out due to his loan term conditions.

Needless to say, United’s top defenders were still on the sidelines.

Everton’s injury woes gave way for James Vaughan and just-returned Iain Turner to start.

As for United, Cristiano Ronaldo was surprisingly left on the bench as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer slipped into the Portuguese winger’s position on the right. But Ronaldo would have an impact on the match later on.

Everton began bright and early. With only two minutes on the clock, defender Joleon Lescott nearly put the Merseysiders ahead when his header grazed Edwin van der Sar’s crossbar on its way out.

They continued to keep possession for long periods after that with United unable to get the ball away from them.

And one of the attacks resulted in a freekick as Patrice Evra needlessly fouled Mikael Arteta. Up stepped Alan Stubbs and he nailed the freekick solidly into goal, albeit with a harrowing deflection by Michael Carrick.

Replays showed that van der Sar had had it covered, only for the former Spurs man to stick out a foot and deflect it into goal.

United almost took another blow moments later, when Solskjaer went down after getting a knock. Ronaldo was then sent to do his runs and warm up – but the Norwegian was back up.

But United fans would have been calling for Ronaldo to be brought on immediately, considering United were a goal down and their defence taking a battering from the Everton strikeforce.

It was only after 19 minutes United began to look like contenders for the title, when Rooney powered a drive that was put out by Everton keeper Turner, and subsequently had a header saved by Turner again.

Alan Smith could have levelled matters 24 minutes into the match, but after a nice interplay with Ryan Giggs, he still managed to drive the ball wide under no pressure from Stubbs.

Rooney tried a header from Carrick’s long ball five minutes later, but there was not enough power on it to cause any trouble for Turner, who seemed to be dealing with United’s attacks relatively easily.

Everton then put themselves through a lean spell in the United half, with the Devils unable to steer the ball out of the area, despite the fact that although Everton had most of the ball, they were not really threatening United’s goal.

But when they finally got out, Rooney failed to connect with a beautiful cross from Giggs, a mirror image to the chance he had against AC Milan in the Champions League semifinal first leg on Tuesday.

The half ended with a half chance by Giggs and Arteta, but, undoubtedly, Everton held the upper hand going into the break.

A medium speed, not-so-hot hairdryer session by Sir Alex Ferguson would have done the job at halftime, and it showed three minutes into the second half when both Rooney and Paul Scholes had their shots blocked by a stern Everton defence.

It was clear Everton were not going to allow any breach, but on the other end, Manuel Fernandes put the home side 2-0 up after 50 minutes, with a screamer that left United bewildered and wondering what to do.

Two minutes after getting the shocker, United were denied two good chances when Turner thwarted Rooney’s effort on goal, and saved Giggs’ freekick.

You would think by now, Ferguson would have brought on his star player. Sorry to disappoint you, but he didn’t.

Instead, he decided to take Evra off and replaced him with Kieran Richardson – a decision which showed that Ferguson was determined not to risk Ronaldo in light of the upcoming Champions League semifinal second leg in Italy.

Carrick, who was responsible for the first goal, tried to make amends after 57 minutes, but did not make much of a good effort as his shot spun wide.

Smith did not do very well either two minutes later when he sent his shot over the top.

But on the hour mark, things started to look a little brighter for United, when Giggs’ corner was poked home into the net by John O’Shea – but after Turner had done a terrible job by spilling it.

Over at the Bridge, Chelsea were being held by a patched up Bolton, and United knew if they could get one more goal back, it would be a real morale booster for them.

Rooney nearly did that two minutes later when he expertly got away from his marker and with the ball at his feet, drove a nice ball, only to see it saved by the onrushing Turner and the latter’s defender clearing the trash.

Finally, as if timed to perfection, Ferguson brought Ronaldo in place of Smith and moments later, fired a shot that was saved rather easily by Turner.

Solskjaer was also in with a chance a minute after, but a deliberate handball ruined everything for him as Everton continued to try and keep their defence water tight, as the Norwegian seemed to have been given too much space deep into Turner’s area.

Rooney had a copycat version of his earlier chance when he got away from his marker again, but this time his pass was a bit overweighted and the ball was easily dealt with by the Everton defence.

Three minutes later, the face of the game changed. And United have an old boy to thank for it.

Ronaldo was really making an impact after his introduction, and he powered a header from Carrick’s corner that was blocked by Turner’s splayed legs but did not completely douse the threat in the 67th minute.

The Everton defence would come to rue that as a mad scramble right in front goal resulted in a panicky Neville putting the ball into his own net, and it sent United – backroom staff and players alike – into a frenzy.

But obviously, the most relieved person would have been Carrick.

With the game now set at 2-2, Moyes made an offensive switch by bringing on James Beattie and James McFadden for Vaughan and Leon Osman respectively, in hopes of spurring his team to get back the lead they held for much of the match.

A series of half-chances from Arteta and Ronaldo followed, but old boy Rooney would be the one to silence the Park fans with only 11 minutes to go.

But the opportunity began with a simple pass from Ronaldo to goalscorer O’Shea down the right, and the problem started there when Lee Carsley did not manage to get any distance whatsoever with his headed clearance.

However, he was more horrified when Rooney was the recipient of the failed clearance, and, despite a desperate effort by Tony Hibbert to stop Rooney, the England forward placed a shot in the far corner of Turner’s goal.

Audaciously, Rooney then taunted the Everton fans behind the goal and lifted his arms in celebration, as the rest of his teammates ran towards him and stuck to him like glue.

On the touchlines, the United bench were up and punching the air in glee as United now knew they were going to get all three points.

This, considering the fact that Chelsea were still not able to break down the Bolton defence for the winning goal.

Rooney nearly had a brace five minutes later, but Turner held his shot well.

Ronaldo then had, ultimately, the best chance of the match when he beat the offside trap and sprinted towards goal.

One-on-one with Turner, however, Ronaldo was embarassingly only able to send a shot into Turner’s body, and the Portuguese winger was really, really unhappy with himself, long even after the ball had been cleared.

Turner again came out on top on 90 minutes when he blocked Ronaldo’s shot, but he was unable to prevent a fourth United goal from going in.

Chris Eagles repaid Ferguson’s faith in him when he latched onto Rooney’s lofted pass and, despite stumbling a little, the youngster picked his spot and brilliantly shot beyond Turner and into the net.

Solskjaer would have been proud of his successor, but more importantly, United had taken a giant step towards wrenching the title away from Chelsea, who had, by the way, drawn their match against Bolton.

Of course, United have Bolton to thank for the little “favour”.

I’M SO PROUD OF YOU: Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson (second from right) jubilantly moves to hug his players Michael Carrick and Cristiano Ronaldo as Everton’s Mikael Arteta walks off dejectedly after his side lost a thrilling encounter at home.