Ferguson prefers Valencia to Scunthorpe

While Manchester United, showing 11 changes from Sunday’s win over Liverpool, fulfilled their role on the pitch with a 5–2 victory over Scunthorpe, all the focus after the game was on Sir Alex Ferguson’s decision to travel to Spain to watch Valencia instead.

The United boss left assistant Mike Phelan in charge for the third–round tie at Glanford Park as he scouted out next week’s Champions League opponents.

Ferguson’s absence showed how important he sees next week’s Valencia match to be, after United’s failure to beat Rangers in their opening Champions League fixture at Old Trafford.

Phelan said: “We need to go there knowing what we’re up against. He’s the manager and he had to make a decision.”

Phelan would have had even tougher questions to answer had Scunthorpe managed to build on the flying start which saw Josh Wright send the record 9,077 crowd into raptures with a stunning opener in the 19th minute.

But Darron Gibson equalised four minutes later and Chris Smalling put United ahead with his first goal for the club. Two goals from Michael Owen and one from Park Ji–sung sealed United’s win, before Martyn Woolford grabbed a deserved second for home side.