Sir Alex Ferguson revealed he was about to haul Wayne Rooney off moments before the teenager unleashed his Old Trafford wonder-strike yesterday.

Manchester United looked to be heading for their third successive Premiership defeat until Rooney strode on to Peter Ramage's headed clearance and flashed an unstoppable volley past Newcastle keeper Shay Given.

Wes Brown sealed a 2-1 win for the hosts but Ferguson was in no doubt the man who deserved the accolades was the youngster he was about to replace.

''It was an unbelievable goal,'' said the Red Devils' boss.

''He must have been 30 yards out but he struck it magnificently.

''I was going to take him off because he took a knock in the first half and was struggling.

''But after the goal I thought 'Just keep him on' because he is always capable of doing something like that again.''

Ferguson labelled Rooney's effort even better than the teenager's similarly blistering strike in the FA Cup win over Middlesbrough in January.

It allowed the £27m former Everton front-man to become the first United player to reach double figures for United in the Premiership this term and overshadowed a hard-fought encounter which saw Gabriel Heinze carried off just before the break.

After disappointing losses to Norwich and Everton, the win revived Red Devils' hopes of finishing the campaign as runners-up to Chelsea.

They have now closed the gap on second-placed Arsenal to a single point, but Ferguson still bemoaned referee Neale Barry's failure to award a first-half penalty after Andy O'Brien appeared to foul Alan Smith.

''It is getting to the stage where it looks quite sinister now,'' moaned Ferguson.

''This was the referee who awarded Portsmouth a penalty against us earlier in the season for the slightest of tugs from Rio Ferdinand but he fails to give a blatant one like today's."