Ferdinand ensures winning finish at home

Manchester Rio Ferdinand’s first league goal in five-and-a-half years ensured Alex Ferguson was given a winning send-off, thanks to a 2-1 Premier League victory over Swansea at Old Trafford, in the veteran manager’s final home game in charge of the club.

His successor David Moyes also ended his final home match as Everton manager with a 2-0 win over West Ham, thanks to two goals from Kevin Mirallas.

Swansea’s Michu had equalised an opening goal from United forward Javier Hernandez and a day of celebration seemed destined to end in minor disappointment until Ferdinand, who signed for Ferguson in July 2002, appeared on the end of Robin van Persie’s 87th minute corner and shot home from six yards.

In an emotional post-match speech, Ferguson, who will be succeeded by Everton manager David Moyes, praised all at the club during his 26 years in charge.

As a typically torrential Manchester afternoon dampened proceedings - if not the mood - the fixture that marked Ferguson’s final home game was always to be largely irrelevant, with the manager having won his 13th English league title two weeks earlier.

But the significance of the occasion made for an electric atmosphere at Old Trafford as the teams came out and created a guard of honour for the retiring manager.

Ferguson made a low-key entrance in the circumstances, taking his place on the United bench for the 1,499th time as manager, as a club employee held up the electronic substitutes’ board to display the figures “26” and “38” - the number of years Ferguson has been in charge and the number of major trophies he has won, respectively.

The 75,000-plus crowd had also been issued with flags - red for United, white for the few thousand visiting supporters - while one side of the stadium displayed a mosaic which spelt out “Champions” during the pre-match festivities.

There was such an air of celebration and reminiscence around Old Trafford that one burning issue hardly registered - the fact that England striker Wayne Rooney was not even named among the substitutes by Ferguson.