UNITED GUN DOWN BRUM TO REACH CARLING CUP SEMIS

 

 

(Image taken from Manutd.com)

 

So...United were back in Brumland, this time on Carling Cup business. It must be ages since the Reds were still in this competition while getting knocked out of Europe but as things stood we looked to gain the more minor of the main English Cups for the first time since 1992. Steve Bruce was in that United side and now he was gaffering a Birmingham City side fighting relegation. And so we headed to St Andrews for the quarter final.

The first half was a dicey affair. Fergie fielded a similar hybrid of first teamers and reserves to that that faced West Brom in the previous round while Bruce matched it with his full first team lineup. The result was a very even first half where the Brummies didn't allow United to relax, Emile Heskey proving a particular headache for Tim Howard though United had their share of chances at the other end.

In the second half, Fergie decided to turn up the heat by throwing Rooney on in place of apprentice-assassin Rossi and even without Wayne hitting the net it wasn't long till City were cooked. First, 40-odd seconds into the half, a Ronaldo cross caused chaos in the Birmingham box, allowing Saha to hit the net before the Frenchman set up Park to for the Korean to open his United account in the 50th. City tried to get themselves back in business but then Saha practically ripped the net off in the 63rd minute after being fed by Neville. Birmingham then tried to go down in a blaze of glory and Finnish striker Jiri Jorosik did pull one goal back through a 75th minute free kick but it was too little, too late. Sorry Brucey, your guys got cleaned.

Elsewhere that night, Wigan went up against Bolton in the JJB stadium. Athletic smoothly took care of business with striker Jason Roberts scoring two goals in a 2-0 win.

The big laugh came the next day with Arsenal heading to the Belle Vue to deal with League 1 side Doncaster, who'd already taken out Man City and Villa in previous rounds. Arsene Wenger may have been playing his reserves on this occassion but what I heard out of the resulting match was still a good laugh. Rovers midfielder Michael McIndoe opened the scoring in the 4th minute and took their lead into half time only for Dutch striker Quincy Owusu-Abeyie to level things for the Gunners in the 63rd. 1-1 after 90 minutes meant extra time...and it was Doncaster midfielder Paul Green who broke the deadlock in the 117th minute. Behold! Another Sunk Gun disaster! Ah well, maybe not, Gilberto Silva equalised just before the ref's whistle blew, scrabbling his team into a penalty shootout. Silva opened things up, McIndoe replied. Pascal Cygan and Swedish midfielder Sebastian Larsson then clinched it for the Gunners, Rovers losing their accuracy from the spot in the meantime.

Finally, it was Middlesborough vs Blackburn at the Riverside. Rovers ran the show but it wasn't till the last minute of normal time that Paul Dickov hit the winner for them.

So we then have the semi final draw, and how about this for wierd: Bryan Robson, Steve Bruce, Mark Hughes. All three of these guys featured in the player rollcall in the classic United FA Cup track "Come on You Reds" from 1994, which I remember singing along to a load of times in the mid 90s. Back in '94, Robson was a fading midfielder whose glory days had been in the 80s, Bruce was the captain of the side and rock solid central defender while Hughes played the conventional assasin to Eric Cantona's mad genius. Well, all three of those men are now Premiership managers, and in this Carling Cup run United have already seen off Robson's West Brom in round 4 and Bruce's Birmingham side in the quarters. Now we're up against Hughes's Blackburn side in a two-legged semifinal tie with the first leg at Ewood Park. Oh, and Wigan face Arsenal in the other semi(first leg at the JJB Stadium).

Which could make things fairly interesting, but we've got to get back to Premiership business next.

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