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Sir Alex Ferguson’s mantra at this time of year is all about hitting the ground running. He could hardly have imagined that, by 5.50pm yesterday, he would have seen Wayne Rooney collapse in a crumpled heap and the rest of his Manchester United players fall to their knees in weary frustration as the final whistle was blown.

This was not in the script for a United team with such strong hopes of retaining their Barclays Premier League title this season. Perhaps it was the kind of scenario that had crossed the mind of Carlos Tévez, who is now likely to be thrust straight into the side away to Portsmouth on Wednesday evening, but, for Ferguson, the loss of two points was almost the least of his worries as he pondered the absence of Rooney, with a hairline fracture in his left foot, for what is likely to be a matter of months rather than weeks.

Whatever this was, it was not hitting the ground running. United had enough opportunities to win, but, with Reading parking the proverbial bus in front of their goal, it was not a result that had the spectators scratching their heads in disbelief as they headed for the exits. Even after Dave Kitson was sent off, only 37 seconds after his introduction as a second-half substitute, Reading held firm, eager to disprove the voguish theory that they will fall victim to the phenomenon known in footballing circles as difficult second-season syndrome.

At the final whistle, several Reading players sprinted towards Marcus Hahnemann, the goalkeeper who had repelled the best of United’s attacks, but this was far more than a one-man resistance movement. There should be honourable mentions for Michael Duberry, whose top-flight days were thought to be behind him until he was summoned from Stoke City in January, and for the Icelandic duo of Ivar Ingimarsson and Brynjar Gunnarsson, but above all for Steve Coppell, the manager, whose tactics Ferguson praised through gritted teeth.

“Credit to them,” Ferguson said. “They battled, they fought, they scratched. They weren’t interested in trying to play the game, but they came for a result and they got one. I can understand anyone coming here and doing that. But the loss of Wayne was obviously key. If he had stayed on, we would have won the game. But we just didn’t have anyone used to playing in the central striker role.”

With Rooney on his way to hospital, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Louis Saha not yet match-fit and Tévez kicking his heels in the directors’ box, it fell to the unlikely figure of John O’Shea to lead the line for United in the second half. Had he not shot straight at Hahnemann when put through by Ryan Giggs, it would have been hailed as a masterstroke on Ferguson’s part.

Ferguson was entitled to cite other chances that fell to Wes Brown and Paul Scholes in the second half, with the postmatch statistics claiming that United had had 70 per cent of the possession and mustered 21 goal attempts to Reading’s three, but this never seemed likely to be the kind of stroll for the home team that the bookmakers’ odds suggested.

Lining up with five across the back and with Seol Ki Hyeon and Stephen Hunt working tirelessly on the flanks, their game plan was unashamedly defensive, but, while it might have been at odds with Coppell’s principles, it worked like a dream.

“We shouldn’t have to justify the way we played,” Coppell said. “If you come here with all guns blazing, you’ll get found out. I remember Fulham coming here on the first day of last season and they were 4-0 down within 20 minutes. We didn’t want that to happen to us.”

That never seemed likely. With Scholes driven to distraction by the attentions of Gunnarsson, United’s play lacked its usual quality.

Cristiano Ronaldo offered the greatest threat for the home team, testing Hahnemann with a couple of characteristic efforts and setting up decent first-half chances for Rooney and Giggs, but even he was far from his mercurial best. Opportunity knocked for Ronaldo in the fifth minute of injury time, but this time he sent a free kick sailing into the Stretford End.

By that stage, Reading were a man short, Kitson having been shown the red card for a senseless lunge on Patrice Evra just moments after entering the field.

It meant that the final 17 minutes, plus stoppage time, resembled the alamo, with Reading playing an operation best described as 4-5-0, but, to their manager’s delight, they preserved their point. Reading could hardly have been presented with a more fearsome start to the campaign, but they will face Chelsea on Wednesday with renewed confidence in their prospects this season. As for United, they have difficult away assignments against two of the summer’s biggest movers in the transfer market, Portsmouth and Manchester City, whose manager, Sven-Göran Eriksson, appeared to enjoy his spying mission.

Eriksson, of course, knows all about Rooney and foot injuries, having gambled on the forward’s fitness when he fractured a metatarsal in the build-up to last year’s World Cup finals in Germany. At least United, unlike England last year, have a ready-made replacement. Tévez’s spell at West Ham United last season gave him plenty of experience of being cast in the role of saviour. After his new team’s faltering start, his likely appearance at Fratton Park on Wednesday could hardly be better-timed.

How they rated

Manchester United 4-4-2

E van der Sar 5
W Brown 6
R Ferdinand 7
N Vidic 6
M Silvestre 5
C Ronaldo 7
M Carrick 6
P Scholes 5
P Evra 5
R Giggs 6
W Rooney 6

Substitutes Nani 5 (for Rooney, 46min), J O’Shea 5 (Silvestre, 57), D Fletcher (Brown, 78) Not used T Kuszczak, G Pique

Reading 5-4-1

M Hahnemann 8
U De La Cruz 7
M Duberry 8
I Ingimarsson 7
G Murty 7
N Shorey 5
Seol Ki Hyeon Y 7
J Harper 7
B Gunnarsson 6
S Hunt 5
K Doyle 5

Substitutes J Oster Y 5 (for Seol, 58min), D Kitson R (Doyle, 72), A Bikey (Hunt, 87) Not used A Federici, K Cissé