Cup canter for injury-hit Reds

Manchester United 2, Tottenham 1

THAT there was to be no specially invoked period of extra time would have been a relief to most of the 75,014 crowd inside Old Trafford on Saturday evening.

While the scoreline indicates that the two sides were fairly evenly matched, the evidence on the pitch told a different tale. United were vastly superior in every aspect to a Tottenham side which, in the estimation of television pundit Teddy Sheringham, had stopped trying once the home side had recovered from an early setback to go in front.

There was some truth to that, even though Spurs boss Harry Redknapp strongly disagreed, and with Sir Alex Ferguson’s men in complete control for the whole of the second period this was an FA Cup fourth round tie that petered out after a promising start.

It appeared that neither side desired an extra half-hour, let alone another 90 minutes. Injury problems have hit both squads hard, with United losing three more in left-back debutant Fabio Da Silva (calf), Danny Welbeck (ankle) and Cristiano Ronaldo on the night, but Ferguson attacked reports suggesting he was seeking to exploit a little-known FA rule to play extra-time in order to avoid the need to squeeze a replay into a cramped fixture list.

“It is scandalous to say that,” said Ferguson, whose side travels to face West Brom in the Premier League tomorrow night. “There was never any possibility of us asking not to have a replay.”

On the injuries, the United boss – who withdrew Ronaldo on 71 minutes, with the winger feeling unwell – was more upbeat despite a long injury list.

“We had to get the doctor to him (Ronaldo) this morning and I didn’t think he was anywhere near ready but he showed the appetite to play and it is always good to have him on the pitch,” he added.

“We could do without these things but Ryan Giggs and Darren Fletcher are fresh, so it is just the full-backs that are giving us concern.”

A total of three United debutants took to the field at Old Trafford. Fabio, twin brother of injured Rafael, was a terrific, energetic presence at left-back before being withdrawn due to injury and he was replaced by Richard Eckersley shortly after half-time, who slotted in comfortably on the opposite side of the field with John O’Shea filling in on the left.

Zoran Tosic, the £8million signing who came on in place of Ronaldo, is a slight, tricky winger in the mould of a young Ryan Giggs and though he didn’t do anything spectacular the game was beyond needing it.

Tottenham shocked the home support by taking the lead after only five minutes. The talented but sedentary Tom Huddlestone roused himself to produce a chip into the area and Roman Pavlyuchenko stole a march on Nemanja Vidic to glance a header across Ben Foster.

United soon got back into the game and the remainder of the half saw the visitors come under wave after wave of pressure. The outstanding Carlos Tevez cracked a left-footed drive against the bar on 18 minutes, Welbeck’s mesemeric weaving dribble into the area was stopped well by Chris Gunter and Ronaldo and Tevez, again, went close.

The scores were finally levelled when Michael Carrick’s corner found Paul Scholes at the edge of the area and his low shot ricocheted off Huddlestone to wrong-foot Ben Alnwick in the Tottenham goal.

Just two minutes later, Carrick was the creator again in lofting a lovely ball over the top of the defence which ex-Spurs hitman Dimitar Berbatov latched on to. The Bulgarian composed himself to hit the ball truly across Alnwick and into the far corner from the edge of the area.

Tottenham lacked spark, particularly out wide where Gareth Bale and David Bentley seldom threatened to get in behind United’s rearguard to cause problems. With Huddlestone and Didier Zokora rarely providing thrust through the middle, the counter-attacks lacked any sort of pace and were easily dealt with.

Bentley fired a well-struck effort just wide shortly before the hour but, aside from a late goalmouth scramble, that was about as good as it got for Redknapp’s men in a disappointing second half show in which only United’s occasional over-elaboration kept the margin to a single goal.


Hornets test for Chelsea

CHELSEA face another trip to Football League opposition in the last 16 of the FA Cup after being drawn against Watford.

The Blues, who beat Ipswich 3–1, needed a replay to defeat Southend in the third round and had to come from a goal down at Roots Hall.

The other definite ties see Hull travel to Sheffield United, West Ham host Middlesbrough and Fulham visit Swansea, who knocked out holders Portsmouth.

Manchester United face a trip to either Derby or Nottingham Forest while Liverpool will meet Aston Villa if they win their respective replays against Everton and Doncaster.


Cardiff/Arsenal v West Brom/Burnley

Derby/Nottm Forest v Man Utd

Liverpool/Everton v Doncaster/Aston Villa

Sheff Utd v Hull

Sunderland/Blackburn v Coventry

Swansea v Fulham

Watford v Chelsea

West Ham v Middlesbrough

Matches to be played over the weekend of February 14-15.