Freddy Eastwood scored the winner in the 27th minute when he drilled a brilliant free-kick home at Roots Hall.

United, who top the Premiership table, tried to get back into the game through efforts from Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney but heroic saves by Darryl Flahavan kept them at bay.

This was just the second domestic defeat of the season for Alex Ferguson's side after losing to Arsenal by the same result in the Premiership.