Ferguson gets birthday wish

Cristiano Ronaldo gave Sir Alex Ferguson the 65th birthday present he wanted as Manchester United stretched their lead at the top of the Premiership to six points with a 3-2 win over 10-man Reading.

For the third time in eight days over the Festive period, Ronaldo struck twice to take his season's tally to 11 and widen the gap on chasing champions Chelsea.

United were forced to endure a nervy few minutes at the death after Leroy Lita had dragged Reading back into the contest in stoppage time.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer set United on the way, escaping Ibrahima Sonko's attentions to score with a near-post header in the 33rd minute.

But Sonko capitalised on a rare Edwin Van der Sar blunder to fire the Royals level on 38 minutes.

United's response was almost immediate as Ronaldo hit the bar before the break. Then, following the half-time introduction of Ryan Giggs, Solskjaer brought a superb save out of Hahnemann with a glancing near-post header.

Rooney also went close with a curling shot after he had been sent through by Ronaldo.

Then Giggs and Rooney sent Solskjaer flying into the area past Sonko. The striker's shot might have got the faintest of touches from Hahnemann as it bounced onto the post, but the rebound fell straight to Ronaldo, who bundled it home.

Reading's hopes of rescuing something from the game were virtually ended when referee Mike Dean sent Sam Sodje off for his second bookable offence, pulling back Rooney, just five minutes after his introduction as a substitute.

Ronaldo was then on hand to volley home from close range when Giggs picked him out with a far-post cross in the 77th minute. Lita rattled a few Old Trafford nerves when he scored deep into injury time, but United held firm.