Revenge came quickly for Fulham with an historic win over Manchester United just a fortnight after the Premiership champions dumped them out of the FA Cup.

A goal from man-of-the-match Danny Murphy from the penalty spot, which saw Paul Scoles senf off for deliberate handball and a second from Zoltan Gera three minutes from the end earned the Cottagers a famous 2-0 victory.

The last time Fulham beat Manchester United at home was 45 years ago and following the 4-0 thumping by United in the FA Cup earlier this month, the champions were odds-on to claim the three points.

But a full house of 25,000 spectators saw the home side start the stronger while an out-of-sorts United team struggled to break out of their own half.

The game hinged on the 17th minute sending off of Scoles who handled a goal-bound header from Bobby Zamora.

Referee Phil Dowd had no option but to show the fiery midfielder the red card and former Liverpool player Danny Murphy coolly stroked the resulting penalty past Edwin Van der Sar who was sent the wrong way.

It was no more than the home side deserved and the former Fulham 'keeper had to be at his best to deny Zamora again 10 minutes later.

Fulham continued to pressurise United and a Clint Dempsey shot a few minutes later flashed just wide.

United were poor by comparison, continually giving the ball away and their only real effort on goal was a header from Dimitar Berbatov which sailed over.

The ineffectual Berbatov was replaced by Wayne Rooney after the break and United pressed hard for the equaliser.

Fulham keeper Mark Schwarzer had to be at his best to deny a Christiano Ronaldo header and on the hour the Aussie produced a double save to stop Ji-Sung Park and then Rooney from scoring.

But the 10-men of United were always going to leave themselves open at the back and Gera condemned United to back-to-back defeats with a calm turn and shot three minutes before the end.

United's frustration was all too much for the already booked Rooney who was shown a second yellow a few minutes later for throwing the ball in the direction of the referee who had recalled a quick United free kick.

Fulham manager Roy Hodgson said he was delighted at seeing his side reach the 'magical' 40-point mark.

He said: "I'm very pleased with the victory. I thought the players deserved this."