Wayne Rooney led a red riot at Old Trafford as Newcastle’s mini-revival came to an abrupt halt at the hands of a Manchester United side determined to secure second-place in the Premiership as soon as possible.

Rooney’s early double proved enough to hand Manchester United victory in a totally one-sided encounter to which the final scoreline bore no reflection.

Newcastle avoided a landslide solely because their hosts spurned at least half a dozen golden chances, with Rooney himself culpable, hitting the post with a second-half chip which would have completed a richly-deserved hat-trick.

After signing his £5million, five-book deal, Rooney is clearly under orders to find some material. And his first-half display warrants a chapter on its own.

Within 12 minutes, the 20-year-old had scored twice. He might have had a hat-trick inside quarter of an hour and with his final kick of the half, he poleaxed his captain Gary Neville with a ferocious volley which sent the United man to the floor in theatrical fashion and left him ruefully clutching his jaw as he made his way to the dressing room.

Had Rooney’s team-mates showed the same clinical instincts, Glenn Roeder could have had no complaints if Newcastle had been five behind at the break.

Louis Saha, once again preferred to Ruud van Nistelrooy, had two golden opportunities but spurned them both, initially through a heavy first-touch, then a weak shot.

Park Ji-Sung ballooned an excellent opportunity over and John O’Shea appeared to trip over his own feet as a pass rolled unexpectedly into his path inside the Newcastle box.

Even Rooney was fallible on a couple of occasions, although his wondrous talent had already left the visitors on the ropes.

Given how events were to unfold, Rooney did not need the present Peter Ramage provided him with after just eight minutes.

Under pressure from Mikael Silvestre by the touchline, Ramage opted to play a blind pass to Shay Given instead of taking the obvious option of booting the ball out of play.

Unfortunately for the full back, Rooney read his intentions, skipped onto the loose ball, then beat Given with the most delightful of chips.

Four minutes later Saha’s delicate touch found O’Shea, who in turn fed Rooney for number two, a sweet strike after Ramage had been held off with some considerable ease.

From that moment on, it became an almost personal crusade for Rooney to complete his hat-trick.

That it did not come was no reflection on a Newcastle defence totally outsmarted from start to finish but more because of the boy wonder’s own fallibility.

In the Newcastle goal, Given was giving a passable impression of a coconut shy as missiles rained in from all angles. Bravely the Irishman stood firm.

But there was nothing he could do to deny Rooney his best chance, which came when Jean Alain Boumsong only succeeded in nodding Wes Brown’s long punt forward a bit closer to his own goal.

Rooney was onto it in a flash, skipped past Given but chipped his shot onto a post, with Robbie Elliott racing back and getting the slightest of deflections.

Van Nistelrooy eventually made his entrance 15 minutes from time, yet even his predatory instincts let him down as he failed to convert from 10 yards as, not for the first time, Boumsong had found himself outmanoeuvred.