David Moyes thanked the fans inside Old Trafford for rallying around him as an airborne protest stunt backfired and Manchester United ran out 4-1 winners against Aston Villa.

What had been billed as a difficult afternoon for Moyes turned out to be plain-sailing as a Wayne Rooney double and goals from Juan Mata and Javier Hernandez sealed a relatively comfortable win for Moyes.

A group of disgruntled fans carried out their threat to fly a protest banner over Old Trafford.

A plane buzzed over the ground for the first 10 minutes of the match with the message “Wrong One — Moyes Out” behind it.

“The support inside Old Trafford has been terrific and if ever there was a show of support for their football club and for their team, it was today,” the United boss said.
Moyes said he took no notice of the plane.

“I was concentrating on the game,” he added.

It looked like being yet another bad day at the office for Moyes when Ashley Westwood bent a free-kick over the wall and past goalkeeper David de Gea with just 11 minutes gone.

Rooney equalised seven minutes later though before he converted a penalty in first-half injury time following a foul by Leandro Bacuna on Mata.

Mata scored his first goal for the club to make it 3-1 and Adnan Januzaj set up his fellow substitute Hernandez for the fourth at the death.