EARLY celebrations for Sir Alex Ferguson and and an irresistible Cristiano Ronaldo. For Ferguson this was the 50th anniversary of his distinguished years in football — making his debut for Queens Park as a 16-year-old. Ronaldo quickly scored his hundredth goal for the club, and scored another later on, both from free kicks.

Any hope Stoke City, so outwardly inferior in technique, individual talent and flair, had of surprising United in similar circumstances as their defeat of Arsenal disappeared as early as the third minute.

Ronaldo, who spent most of the game on the left, notionally his weaker side, allowing the lively Ji-Sung Park to threaten from the right, struck a free kick from fully 30-yards out from an inside position. He cut across with his right foot and it beat Thomas Sorensen in the Stoke goal, although he did get a hand to it. It would perhaps be harsh to blame the goalkeeper. Ronaldo, after all, moves balls in the air.

He struck another free kick from a more central position after an hour, from further than 35 yards, with such ferocity that Sorensen could do no better than desperately push it out even though he got right behind it.

The game was almost over in reality — it was over as a contest much earlier — when Stoke were foolish enough to concede a free kick just outside the box in a central position. Ronaldo duly drove it home in the 89th minute.

The threat presented by the torpedo touchline throws of Stoke’s Rory Delap only materialised on the first occasion. After 11 minutes John O’Shea, attempting to clear, instead miscued the ball, obliging his goalkeeper Edwin Van der Sar to stretch out an arm to deflect the ball away in desperation.

Subsequently, Delap was switched from the left to the right where his throws failed to create such confusion. Indeed, when he took the last of them after 76 minutes, he seemed dejected, simply throwing the ball short in what seemed pessimism to his left back Danny Higginbotham.

United were without Rio Ferdinand due to back trouble, for whom young Irishman Jonny Evans was a competent replacement and Wayne Rooney had a chest infection.

Not that it made any difference. Dimitar Berbatov and Carlos Tevez were an inspired, insicive and constantly illusive pair. Berbatov has a wonderfully subtle repertoire. When he scored the third United g oal earlly in the second half, receiving from the endlessly active, mobile and ubiquitous Tevez, he found himself space with superb skill before beating Sorensen.

Tevez’s movement, intelligence, even self-sacrifice to the team were quite outstanding, always prepared to drop back to forage for the ball or to move out to the right wing for it.

With their raucous not to say bellicose fans in thundering chorus behind the scoreboard goal, Stoke actually kept United from adding to Ronaldo’s early goal until the 45th minute. Then Ronaldo ran in from the left to find Michael Carrick, who scored with ease into the bottom left corner.

United’s fourth goal was scored by an exciting young talent in the form of Danny Welbeck, advancing quickly and confidently into the firing line after he was introduced in the 63rd minute, he beat the hapless Sorensen with a fierce right-footed drive.

It made him the youngest Premier League scorer, at 17 years and 355 days, for three years and seven months, when James Vaughan scored in Everton’s win against Crystal Palace when only 16 years and 270 days old.

There should be many goals to come from Welbeck.

Ferguson was not wholly satisfied with his team’s first-half performance, but enthused: “We’ve got some fantastic young players. We’ll take our time with them.”

As for Tony Pulis, Stoke’s manager: “We killed ourselves, really, in the first half, conceding the first goal so early.”

MAN UTD: Van der Sar 6, O’Shea 6, Evans 6, Vidic 6, Evra 6, Park 7 (Welbeck 63min), Carrick 6, Fletcher 7 (Gibson 63min), Ronaldo 8, Tevez 8 (Manucho 74min), Berbatov 7

STOKE: Sorensen 6, Griffin 6 (Wilkinson 79min), Shawcross 6, Abdoulaye Faye 6, Higginbotham 6, Olofinjana 6 (Cresswell 32min, 6), Amdy Faye 6, Diao 6, Delap 6, Sidibe 6, Fuller 6 (Kitson 68min)