Berbatov 50                  Bent 7

A late strike from Ferdinand gave Manchester United a fortunate share of the spoils against ambitious Sunderland.

But it was Rio’s cousin Anton Ferdinand, the Sunderland defender, who scored, inadvertently diverting Patrice Evra’s off-target shot into the net, two minutes into stoppage time.

United were on the back foot from the moment Black Cats in-form striker Darren Bent fired them ahead in the eighth minute, in front of the watching England supremo Fabio Capello.

And it took a piece of Dimitar Berbatov magic, their slice of late luck, and the dismissal of Sunderland’s former United starlet Kieran Richardson, to keep them on top of the Premier League table.

United boss Sir Alex Ferguson rested the currently-influential Ryan Giggs. Sunderland boss Steve Bruce, meanwhile, fielded two strikers, Bent and Kenwyne Jones.

And Bent opened the scoring with a fine right-foot drive from fully 20 yards past Ben Foster’s right-hand.

United were sloppy. But a spell of early second-half pressure culminated in Berbatov’s audacious overhead-kick from John O’Shea’s cross on 50 minutes.

Eight minutes later, however, Kenwyne Jones leapt highest to an Andy Reid cross and headed past a stranded Foster.

And Jones was denied a glorious opportunity to make it 3-1 in the final quarter, United substitute Michael Carrick sweeping the ball off his toe as he was about to shoot, six yards out.

On 83 minutes, Richardson received his second caution, kicking the ball back to where a free-kick had been awarded against him, but too petulantly for referee Alan Wiley.

And for the second consecutive home game in-a-row, United were spared blushes by stoppage time events.

Sunderland boss Steve Bruce admitted: “It feels as if we’ve had our backsides kicked.”

Ferguson, meanwhile, railed at Wiley for being “not fit enough for a game of this standard,” a dreadful comment which should attract FA sanction.