Manchester Utd 0 Reading 0:The first match of a new season is usually a time for heady anticipation but at Old Trafford it brought only anti-climax and, in the case of Wayne Rooney, a grim sense of foreboding. Rooney has a long and unhappy relationship with metatarsal injury and the England striker is reeling from the news that he has broken a foot for the third time in as many years.

This time there was no cry of agony and outstretched hand, as there had been on the Stamford Bridge pitch when Rooney went down 16 months ago and England's attempt to win the World Cup suffered a blow from which it never recovered.

Yet, once again, Rooney's features were contorted in pain when the Reading centre-half Michael Duberry inadvertently brought down his studs on the top of his opponent's left foot. Once again, the diagnosis will be of immense concern not only for Rooney and Alex Ferguson but everyone involved with the England set-up, this being a critical time in the qualification programme for Euro 2008.

Rooney was taken to hospital and the club confirmed last night that he had suffered a hairline fracture.

The official line was that it would mean a six-week lay-off but that is the optimistic view and it could conceivably be longer. Gary Neville, the United captain, and Michael Owen, Rooney's England team-mate, can testify that this is an injury in which the recovery process can be frustratingly drawn out.

He is out of next month's qualifiers against Israel and Russia as well as being doubtful for Estonia's visit to Wembley on October 13th and the return game against Russia four days later but, of more relevance to Ferguson and those with United in their hearts, his partnership with Carlos Tevez must now be put on hold.

As is so often the case in this type of injury, there was nothing malicious about Duberry's challenge shortly before half-time but it was obvious within a few seconds that Rooney was in acute pain.

United's number 10 limped back to the centre circle but made no attempt to join the next attack and went to ground at the first break in play, removing his left boot and signalling that he needed treatment.

There is always a sense of anxiety when Rooney asks for help because the Liverpudlian has the philosophy that it is weak to show pain.

He was able to continue until half-time but it was no surprise when he failed to reappear after the break and Ferguson may now regret his decision to order the striker to try to run it off at the end of the first half.

"He could not stand on it (at the interval)," reported a melancholic Ferguson. "The loss of Wayne is obvious."

For Reading, the pity is that Rooney's injury, and the potential seriousness of it for Ferguson and Steve McClaren, deflect from what was an outstanding performance of defensive courage and a stubborn refusal to go the same way as Fulham - the victims of a five-goal swamping on the corresponding fixture last season - even when their substitute Dave Kitson was sent off only 37 seconds after coming on to the pitch.

The pressure on Reading's goal was almost unremitting. Yet once Rooney left the pitch Ferguson did not have a recognised centre-forward, with Louis Saha, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Carlos Tevez all unfit at a time when Alan Smith and Gillespie Rossi have both moved on.

John O'Shea, a defender by trade, was brought on as an emergency striker but he, like Cristiano Ronaldo, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs, found the goalkeeper Marcus Anemone in inspired form.

Nani, the Portuguese recruit, also came off the bench but, despite looking lively, he too could not break down a defence in which Duberry, Nicky Shore and Graeme Marty emerged as heroes.

Reading spent only €5.2 million in the summer - compared with €88.5 million for United - but they are clearly blessed with a manager whose tactical knowledge is priceless.

Steve Coppell's master plan was to use Marty as a man-marker against Giggs, while Shore was ordered to do a similar job on Ronaldo.

The result was that United's two most creative players failed to have their usual effect, even after Kitson's dangerously high challenge on Patricia Era.

That moment of recklessness left Reading a man down for the final 17 minutes but O'Shea is no Rooney and they badly missed the absence of a natural striker.

Tevez may now be rushed in for Wednesday's game at Portsmouth and is, in essence, a like-for-like replacement. McClaren, however, has no such player available and already has Peter Crouch suspended for the Israel game.

Seldom has an opening-day fixture been more painful for so many people.