FA Cup - Southampton no match for United

Eurosport - Mon, 05 Jan 09:38:00 2009

Two controversial goals saw Manchester United ease to a comfortable 3-0 victory at 10-man Southampton to book a fourth-round place in the FA Cup.

FOOTBALL; Danny Wellbeck celebrates scoring for Manchester United against Southampton, Jan 2009 - 0

Youngster Danny Wellbeck headed home from an offside position to open the scoring in the 19th minute, with Nani firing home from the penalty spot just after half-time when referee Mike Riley wrongly ruled a free-kick had hit a defender's raised arm in the wall.

Youngster Darron Gibson fired home a third to seal the victory in the final minutes.

Despite the controversial nature of the opening two goals, Southampton could hardly complain about the result as they were comprehensively out-played throughout, United's task made even easier by the 37th-minute sending off of Matt Paterson.

United, who could afford to be without Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez, began to impose themselves on the Championship side after a tepid opening, with Dimitar Berbatov particularly threatening in possession in the final third.

The Bulgarian had already provided half-openings for Ryan Giggs and Nani before United made the breakthrough.

Nani's corner was headed against the crossbar by John O'Shea and Wellbeck - who replays later showed to be in an offside position - had the simple task of nodding home the rebound from point blank range.

United should have been two ahead in the 26th minute when Berbatov and Michael Carrick carved open the Saints back four. Carrick ran on to lift the ball over the advancing Kelvin Davis but, with the goal at his mercy, Southampton defender Chris Perry produced a fine tackle to deny the England midfielder.

Southampton's task was made much harder in the 35th minute when Paterson was sent off by referee Riley for an ugly, studs-up lunge on United defender Nemanja Vidic.

Wellbeck almost snatched a second at the near post in first-half stoppage time but Davis once again reacted well to tip the ball around the post.

Just four minutes after the break, United did double their lead, although the goal was again surrounded by controversy as Southampton hotly disputed the handball decision given against David McGoldrick as he jumped in the defensive wall to block Nani's free-kick.

Referee Riley had no doubt that the ball struck the Saints man's elbow - despite replays showing the ball striking his head - and pointed to the spot.

Nani cooly stroked the penalty in to the bottom right to make it 2-0.

Southampton's Ryan Smith burst into the penalty area after robbing O'Shea in the 53rd minute as the home side looked for an unlikely way back into the match, but his left-foot shot was wide of the target when faced only with goalkeeper Edwin Van Der Sar.

United boss Sir Alex Ferguson sent Wayne Rooney on to liven up the final twenty minutes, with the match threatening to drift aimlessly.

And Rooney set up United's third for fellow sub Gibson, the England man breaking into the box down the left before flicking a superb pass into the middle for the youngster to volley home from eight yards.

Alex Sharratt / Eurosport

Comment 89 - 108 of 148

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  1. how can you justify wanting players in a wheelchair?­ dark dark stuff

    From Ryan T, on Mon 5 Jan 12:57AM

  2. I'm a Liverpool fan of 45 years plus and some of­ the anti United posts on here are just sickening.

    I­ would never ever wish the United team any harm and­ those that do are just brainless morons with no sense­ of what sport and rivalry are all about.

    From Howard, on Mon 5 Jan 12:54AM

  3. Sick sad sad twisted @#$% thats wat you are i wud l­ love to have you the pleasure of meetin you wissam a

    From GERARD, on Mon 5 Jan 12:47AM

  4. wissam, hope u burn in hell

    From alansmithz, on Mon 5 Jan 12:42AM
  5. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    That's why we sing whooooo the fuuuuuuuuuuck are­ manutd!!
    10 men and from lower league and they yet won­ by controversial goals

    From Domistiic, on Mon 5 Jan 12:25AM

  6. elliotbond or idiotbond. Cant u see the replay­ properly? The tackle is too ungly and dangerous.­ Qualified referee ur head

    From jofri_test, on Mon 5 Jan 12:17AM

  7. i'm a united fan, the first goal was offside, the­ penalty should of not been a penalty, the red card was­ defo a red card and united deserved to win even if­ southhampton had 11 men!!!

    From david, on Mon 5 Jan 12:13AM

  8. wissam cop on to your self will ya and dont post such­ comments or remarks about united, have you any sense of­ morality at all,if you have nothing constructive to say­ then say nothing at all you clown.

    From sid, on Mon 5 Jan 12:12AM

  9. WISSAM A (A_NUS) is a liverpool fan...he is a regular­ poster on the liverpool site...i bet he has never been­ to a game in his life...its best not to take any notice­ of someone so "FEEBLE"...to ignore this type­ of comment is always the best action

    From fluffy.bits, on Sun 4 Jan 11:11PM

  10. Good Berba again ! Keep well...

    From dimitar_arn, on Sun 4 Jan 11:05PM

  11. Riley is an ASSCLOWN. Totally bought off

    From tom h, on Sun 4 Jan 10:53PM

  12. people! Dont let this wissam wind you up, just report­ his comments

    From mike k, on Sun 4 Jan 10:32PM

  13. kerristanyer if you can find out who wissam a really is­ put it on facebook with his comments and let him suffer­ the consequences we all talk abit of rubbish on here­ and have the banter with each other but his comments­ are sick do your best cheers

    From DAZGGMU-RED-LEGEND-OF-YAHOO, on Sun 4 Jan 10:27PM

  14. Look guys Manchester United are a world class team and­ Southampton are pretty much bottom of the Championship.­ Lets face it. The result was never going to be in­ Southamptons favor from the start, so if you minus the­ two controversial goals, a 1-0 loss does not seem such­ a bad result for the championship team. Yes they were­ clearly outclassed, but they tried for 90mins even with­ 10 men. They had a couple of chances which, on their­ day, could have turned into goals. Overall, they­ propably did better than some of the premiership teams­ Man United face on a weekly basis.

    From Ben, on Sun 4 Jan 10:26PM

  15. 92 I SEE YOU HAVE A PICTURE OF YOUR HEAD AND IT LOOKS­ LIKE YOUR ARSE BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT YOU'RE­ TALKING OUT OF. YOUR TWO PEA SIZED BRAINS ARE THERE AS­ WELL. YOUR OWN AND ONE OF YOUR TEAM MEMBERS.

    From ianjohnstone223, on Sun 4 Jan 10:11PM

  16. to 93 sorry and I appologise to you 93
    Just trying not­ to let wissam get any pleasure out of his sick­ comment
    one of my children was on trial at man utd and­ went on trips with the club obviously to matches
    and­ football training courses and every time my child left­ i prayed it would not happen again
    forgive me

    From DAVID, on Sun 4 Jan 10:09PM

  17. I come on here for a bit of banter with the fans of all­ teams. It does not matter whether views are agreed or­ not as one person's idea of how a game went can­ result from the loyalties, but as has been said it is­ harmless fun. I absolutely hate and I mean hate to read­ any suggestions that someone's death would cheer up­ some lunatic and I would urge the site analysers to try­ to keep this sort of stuff well out of our way in­ future. This is about the game of football please

    From taff, on Sun 4 Jan 10:08PM
  18. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    I am a qualified football referee and the red card­ desision was only a 1 footed challenge if you watch­ closely and hardly made contact with vidic and the ref­ was absolutly disgraceful

    From elliotbond, on Sun 4 Jan 10:03PM

  19. (92) dont talk such @#$% ya bell end.

    From dawn749mcgregor, on Sun 4 Jan 9:42PM

  20. (88) what do you mean it does not matter? people died­ in that air disaster, no matter his age or religion we­ do not in this country wish DEATH upon anyone, look how­ many people you have offended by you sick twisted­ comment, you should apologise right now and bloody mean­ it. !!!

    From dawn749mcgregor, on Sun 4 Jan 9:38PM
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