WINNING HAS become so routine for Manchester United that the only thing that seemingly interests their manager, Alex Ferguson, now is how they get there. The route he took against Derby in the fifth round of the FA Cup yesterday was arguably the Scot’s most ambitious: playing without any recognised strikers.
So how ominous for United’s coming opponents that despite this self-imposed handicap, they still won comfortably with Wayne Rooney still injured, Dimitar Berbatov rested and Carlos Tevez restricted to a place on the bench.
No matter. Ryan Giggs playing just off lone-striker Cristiano Ronaldo was again imperious, contributing to United’s opening, third and final goals here. First he played a perfectly weighed pass to Nani on 29 minutes that allowed the winger to cut in from the left-hand side and crash a right-footed drive past Stephen Bywater in the Derby goal before, a minute after the restart, delivering the corner from which Ronaldo headed United’s third of the game.
The Welshman, who signed a one-year contract extension at Old Trafford last week, was then involved in the visitor’s final, decisive strike on 80 minutes, playing a one-two with Darren Fletcher on the edge of the box that eventually led to substitute Danny Welbeck scoring his second goal of this season’s FA Cup.
In between, Republic of Ireland international Darron Gibson, one of seven changes Ferguson made from the starting XI that beat West Ham last week, also bundled a shot past Bywater to make it 2-0 to the men in the red.
Credit should, nonetheless, be shown to Derby for their refusal to give up and the hosts, who had started brightly here, got a deserved goal on 56 minutes when Miles Addison headed in Kris Commons’ right-wing cross. Ben Foster, deputising for the record-breaking Edwin Van Der Saar, was left fuming with his defence’s inability to pick up the Derby centre-back.
Gary Teale came close to getting a second on 77 minutes with a low drive that forced Foster into a diving save but ultimately United were not to be denied, their only genuine agitation of the evening being Ronaldo’s disallowed goal on 36 minutes after the assistant referee on the far-side, Paul Tierney, belatedly deemed that the Portuguese was in an offside position when he received Giggs’ flick-on.
So late was Tierney in raising his flag that Ronaldo had finished celebrating before anyone in the ground realised the goal did not stand. Ferguson was furious and made his feelings known to the fourth official Rob Styles while the referee, Alan Wiley, was surrounded by Giggs and Ferdinand both demanding to know why the strike had been cancelled. Unsurprisingly, neither complained when United’s right-back Rafael wandered into an offside position and subsequently blocked Bywater’s view prior to Gibson’s goal.
These, though, were minor details during what was United’s ninth consecutive victory, a win that earned Ferguson’s side a quarter-final fixture against Fulham or Swansea. Derby can take some comfort from the fact they remain the last side to have beaten the league, European and world champions – the 1-0 victory in the teams’ League Cup semi-final first leg tie here last month. On the basis of this performance, and with Dimitar Berbatov and Wayne Rooney to return shortly, it is likely they will remain so for some time. The quadruple remains most definitely on.
- Guardian Service
