Manchester United

4-2

Manchester City

Scholes 34

 

Tarnat 77

van Nistelrooy 70, 79

 

Fowler 85

Ronaldo 73

 

 



Two goals in three second half minutes made this FA Cup Fifth Round tie safe for Manchester United after City had threatened to once again overturn a first half deficit.

After half an hour of sparring, England midfielder Paul Scholes was the man who finally broke the deadlock, scoring in typical fashion.

United worked the ball out of their own half before Gary Neville hit a long low pass to the feet of Roy Keane. United's captain flicked the ball on for van Nistelrooy who then found the flying feet of Ryan Giggs on the left.

The Welshman evaded the attentions of Richard Dunne, ran to the byline and crossed low into the City six-yard area. It was a horrible ball to have to defend and City were unfortunate that Claudio Reyna was their closest player to the ball.

A more accomplished defender may have hacked the ball clear but the American, undecided as to how to deal with the danger and mindful of not wanting to score an own goal, failed to make any contact with the ball, gifting Scholes the space to steer a shot past Arason.

At that moment United were utterly dominant - van Nistelrooy nearly latched on to a poor pass which would have seen him clear and Ronaldo and Giggs had the better of their opposite numbers.

But then came a moment which could so easily have turned the match. Gary Neville collected a pass and cut into the City area only to knock the ball a little too far infront of him, allowing Michael Tarnat the time to come in and tackle the England defender.

Neville fell to the ground and, when referee Jeff Winter waved away his subsequent claims for a penalty, Neville reacted in angry fashion, getting involved in nasty scenes with bothTarnat and Steve McManaman.

In the resulting melee, Winter showed Neville a yellow card for unsporting behaviour and then a red for his altercation with McManaman before showing City's Joey Barton a yellow also for unsporting behaviour.

A man up, City started the second period in good spirits and for a good ten minutes totally dominated the midfield, with McManaman and Barton pulling all the strings.

They soon created chances from which they should have at least equalised. First Shaun Wright-Phillips was played in when Tarnat crossed low from the left into the feet of Antoine Sibierski in the United area. He quickly passed to his right to the waiting Wright-Phillips, who allowed the ball to cross his body before firing a shot at goal.

Tim Howard, United's American 'keeper, was fortunate in that the ball came straight at him and at a good height - his reaction save beat the ball away for a corner but the warnings were there for the home side's defence.

Just seven minutes later, Howard pulled off a brilliant save to keep his side ahead. Richard Dunne delivered a good long cross-field ball into Anton Sibierski in the box. He headed down to Barton who had been left free by Mikael Silvestre. Barton, a few yards out, connected well with his volley but was thwarted by the outstreched hands of Howard safety.

City sensed their moment and their third wonderful chance came their way just after the hour. Sibierski and Fowler combined well and the former Liverpool striker chipped a lovely pass over the United defence straight into the path of McManaman.

The midfielder, free of the presence of any defenders, arrived on the ball perfectly but then hit a weak, rather tentative shot which Howard saved well - it was a great chance which really should have seen Kevin Keegan's side draw level.

Especially when, as is their way, United came off the ropes to score a second, seemingly decisive goal.  After a scrappy passage of play, the ball was fed out to Ronaldo on the right-wing and his low cross again evaded the entire City defence to be met by van Nistelrooy at the back post.

His clinical finish from less than a yard out looked to have finished the match and when Ronaldo scored anotherclose-range goal two minutes later, few gave City any hope.

However, four minutes later, Tarnat made it 3-1 when he powered home Dunne's right-wing cross with the kind of finish McManaman must wish he could have executed.

Moments later, the Cup-tie now open and free-flowing, van Nistelrooy scored a poacher's second goal to again put United three goals clear.

Still City refused to give in and when awarded a free-kick 25 yards out and with all the world waiting for a Tarnat thunderbolt, Robbie Fowler flicked a quickly-taken shot which Howard - caught still lining up his wall - couldn't scramble across to keep out. 

Even in the dying minutes, City came forward and they could so easily have scored not once but twice.

Sibierski, winning every ball in the air, headed a floated Dunne cross wide of goal when he was eight yards out and virtually unmarked before doing the same when presented with an even better chance two minutes later.

Between those headers Fowler had an opportunity but shot high and wide, failing to test Howard's reflexes.

In the end it was a comfortable-looking two-goal win for Sir Alex Ferguson's side and they will take their place in the Sixth Round draw on Monday, but what memories City have given us in The FA Cup this year.

Team Details

Man Utd: Howard, Gary Neville, O'Shea, Silvestre, Fortune, Ronaldo, Phil Neville (Brown 90), Keane, Giggs (Butt 88), Scholes, van Nistelrooy.
Subs not used: Carroll, Forlan, Fletcher.

Man City: Arason, Van Buyten, Dunne, Distin, Tarnat, Wright-Phillips, McManaman, Reyna, Barton, Sibierski, Fowler.
Subs not used: Stuhr-Ellegaard, Wiekens, Macken, Bosvelt, Elliott.

Booked: Tarnat, Barton, Gary Neville
Sent Off: Gary Neville

Attendance: 67,228.
Referee: J Winter (Cleveland).