Red Devils march on with Saints Cup win
Nervy debut win
By Chris,
February 3 2011
Manchester United staged another impressive comeback, coming from a goal behind at Southampton in the F.A Cup fourth round. Richard Chaplow had given the League One Saints a well-earned lead, but Michael Owen and Javier Hernandez were on target after the break to keep United's Cup dreams alive and spare the blushes of the travelling Red Army.
Sir Alex Ferguson made a host of changes for the
tie, with 26-year-old goalkeeper Anders Lindegaard making his debut.
Chris Smalling, Fabio Da Silva and Gabriel Obertan all started as United locked
horns with a Southampton side who dumped much-changed Blackpool out in the
previous round.
Nearly 29,000 packed into the St.Mary's and the home fans witness their side
boss the opening half for long periods and take a deserved lead into the break.
Southampton played with bags of endeavour and ambition, but lacked a cutting
edge in front of goal. Meanwhile, sloppy United went close when Michael Owen
struck the post, but the ten-time winners looked second best for long periods.
The deadlock was broken on the stroke of half-time. Ex-Burnley man Chaplow
showed some nice skill in teeing the ball up before rifling a fine, long-range
drive beyond the reach of Lindegaard.
Sir Alex Ferguson introduced Wesley Brown at the break to shore up his
defensive pack and, as the hour-mark approached, introduced Nani and Ryan Giggs
to the fray as Southampton edged towards an upset.
The substitutions leased fresh life into United and they pulled level on 65
minutes to the delight of the travelling fans. Obertan's cross eventually found
Owen and the diminutive striker nodded home.
Southampton remained resilient and looked on course for a money-spinning replay
before Giggs’ through ball found Hernandez and the Mexican slotted home the
winner.
This was hard on Southampton but United again showed trademark comeback
character and can now look forward to the fifth round. A Wembley semi-final is
two wins away.
Full Time – Southampton 1-2 Manchester
United
Attendance – 28,792