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Rooney sends United up to second
 Rooney leveled the scores early in the second period Wayne Rooney gave a sparkling performance as Manchester United moved into second place in the English Premier League with a 2-1 win at West Ham on Sunday. Victory capped an emotional week for United, with the death of club legend George Best, and it was current hero Rooney who sparked a comeback after West Ham took a first minute lead.. Rooney equalized early in the second period and then set up John O'Shea's winner as United achieved their third consecutive Premiership victory. Sir Alex Ferguson's team remain 10 points adrift of league leaders Chelsea but belief seems to be flooding back into his players after a difficult start to the season. Before kick-off, both sets of supporters were united in celebrating the memory of Best, the former United winger who died on Friday. After words from two ex-England stars, West Ham's Sir Trevor Brooking and United great Sir Bobby Charlton, a former team-mate of Best, the crowd departed from tradition. Instead of a minute's silence, fans marked Best's joyous contribution to football history with 60 seconds of raucous applause before United's followers loudly chanted the name of their most famous number seven. But that was soon drowned out by the cheers of home supporters after 52 seconds when West Ham stormed into the lead. Harewood prodded a first-time shot past Edwin van der Sar at the near post, following Matthew Etherington's surging left-wing run and pin-point pass. United soon recovered their composure and it needed two superb saves inside a minute from Roy Carroll, the Northern Ireland goalkeeper who left Old Trafford in the close season, to prevent his former team from leveling. He sprawled to his left to deny Ruud van Nistelrooy after the Dutchman had collected Ji-Sung Park's pass and moments later tipped aside Paul Scholes' low drive. Carroll did not stop there. After 21 minutes, he sprung to his right to block Rooney's bobbling shot and he denied him again four minutes before half-time. But West Ham eventually cracked within two minutes of the restart. The lively Park was again the provider, slipping a pass to the effervescent Rooney, who twisted past Anton Ferdinand and slammed his shot under Carroll. West Ham were rocked, and moments later Rooney almost grabbed his second when he capped another thrilling burst into the area with a low drive that was well blocked. In the 56th minute, Rooney swung over a corner and O'Shea beat Carroll to thump in an emphatic header. From then on, United were in almost complete control. O'Shea almost grabbed a third but blazed wide from an acute angle, while Ruud van Nistelrooy's sublime 71st-minute chip, bounced off the crossbar. Shrugged offEverton moved out of the drop zone and shrugged off last week's 4-0 hammering by lowly West Bromwich with a 1-0 defeat of Newcastle at Goodison Park after soaking up plenty of pressure. Newcastle skipper Alan Shearer had a goalbound shot cleared off the line and strike partner Shola Ameobi had a penalty appeal rejected after the ball seemed to hit the arm of James McFadden in the first half. Nigerian defender Joseph Yobo headed the winner from a Mikel Arteta corner in the 46th minute while James Beattie and Tim Cahill both missed chances to make it 2-0.  McBride had not scored a league goal since September American striker Brian McBride, without a league goal since September, scored twice as Fulham upset Bolton with a 2-1 win that moved them further away from the drop zone. McBride fired them ahead from close range after four minutes, from a pass from Canadian strike partner Tomasz Radzinski. The second came in the 18th minute from the edge of the area. Fulham midfielder Sylvain Legwinski conceded a 90th minute own goal and there was a second yellow card - followed by a red - for Bolton's El Hadji Diouf after the whistle. West Bromwich followed up their drubbing of Everton with a well-earned point in a 2-2 draw at Middlesbrough, to edge two points clear of the relegation zone. Australian striker Mark Viduka gave Middlesbrough a 12th-minute lead but Nathan Ellington equalized and Nwankwo Kanu put West Brom in front with a good finish on the counter-attack. Kanu's Nigeria international team mate Yakubu Aiyegbeni leveled from the penalty spot for Boro in the 66th minute 
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