UNITED STILL SMOOTH IN CARLING CUP

 

 

Last time around, we faced Championship QPR in the Carling Cup 4th round at Old Trafford. The Flavio Briatore funded side turned out to be completely useless in the first half - it's just a pity that our reserve attackers couldn't do much either. QPR continued to try and simply smother us going into the second half but eventually they were undone by a Carlos Tevez penalty and though the visitors did hit the net before the end of the match, it was ruled out for offside. Overall this wasn't exactly a classic encounter but we did what we needed to do. When they look back on our run to the 2009 Carling Cup, this match will definately be forgotten though.

Well the last time we had any dealings with Barnsley was in the 97/98 season. In the Premiership, the Tykes were clearly the dead men walking of that season but an FA Cup tie that season resulting in serious humiliation for Peter Schmeichal on the way to an early exit. In the League Cup, well United had no history with Barnsley in the competition coming into this season. Furthermore, Barnsley have no significant history in this competition, being traditionally a second tier team not used to challeging for honours. However they did have one early bright spark in the competition, reacing the semi finals of the very first League Cup in 1961!

This time around, well Barnsley are in the lower half of the Championship and are managed by Mark Robbins, a guy who in 1990 saved MUFC history as we know it by hitting the winner in an FA Cup 3rd round match which led to the first trophy of the Fergie era, before going on to play for Norwich later on in the 90s. United meanwhile had to restore pride after getting burned by the Scousers and so the stage was set for this Carling Cup 4th round match at Oakwell. Foster in goal, Neville right back and captain, Brown and Evans central defence, Fabio left back. Gabriel Obertan making his first team debut at right mid, Rafael and Anderson centre mid, Wellbeck left mid, Owen and Macheda up front.

United weren't in much of a mood to hang around and sure enough a 6th minute Anderson corner was all Wellbeck needed to give United the lead. United kept battering the home team's goal but weren't able to grab a second particularly early. Barnsley did look to have their uses late on in the half but they generally looked like unlikely giant killers though Daniel Bogdanovic proved to be a constant headache throughout the match. However no Barnsley equaliser appeared and United looked to be cruising through this encounter, even though there was still plenty of time for Barnsley to turn the game round. Still, nothing to complain about so far.

United were picking up where they left off in the second half but Bernsley were starting to get big ideas only for Owen to give them a reality check in the 58th minute as he smoothly hit the net after being set up by Fabio. Going down to ten men for our second Carling Cup match in a row didn't do us any favours and Barnsley looked to hit the net on multiple occasions but the only time our net bulged was after a couple of morons went on to the pitch! I suppose it's something to brag about in the pub. Bottom line, our reserves did the business once again and secured us back-to-back appearances in the League Cup quarter finals for the first time since a period stretching from 04-06.

Elsewhere, there were a lot of all-Premiership ties. Portsmouth beat Stoke 4-0 at Fratton Park. Sunderland drew 0-0 with Villa at the Stadium of Light before Villa won on penalties. Spurs beat Everton 2-0 at White Hart Lane. The tie of the round saw Arsenal face Liverpool at the Emirates Stadium and Arsenal won that match 2-1. Finally Chelsea beat Bolton 4-0 at Stamford Bridge having, like United started with a reserve lineup. That makes the quarter finals of the competition an all-Premiership affair with three of the teams involved(including United) also having Champions League business to take care of. Certainly no easy games in there.

For United it definately won't be easy, their quarter final matchup has them facing Spurs at Old Trafford. It's going to be a rematch of last season's final but even though it's on home turf nothing can be taken for granted. Spurs are still on form in the Premiership, no questions asked. United are likely to be fielding their reserves again and though that was enough for us to grab glory in last season's competition, you have to wonder if a full strength Spurs side are more than our second-stringers can handle this time around. And yet, there's always the possibility of first teamers getting involved at this stage so fingers crossed. Still, it's going to be tricky.

North of the border, the CIS Insurance Cup quarter finals took place. St Johnstone beat Dundee United 2-1 at McDiamond Park with the game won by an own goal. St Mirren then beat Motherwell 3-0 at St Mirren Park. SD1 Dundee were then beaten 3-1 by Rangers at Dens Park with the underdogs actually managing to come into half time with the game level but the Old Firm side gave them a reality check in the end, helped by another og. Celtic were then beaten 1-0 by Hearts at Celtic Park, with the Celts winding up down to ten men. That resulted in an all-SPL lineup for the semi finals that should provide some interesting matches.

Back south of the border, United were back in Premiership action against Blackburn at Old Trafford. Rovers went all out defence in the first half and I suppose they would have been satisfied with the first half ending goalless. United broke through in the second half though with first Berbatov then Rooney hitting the net to secure the three points. Blackburn did hit the net late on but it was ruled out for offside even though Rovers fans would have been snarking. That still leaves United 2nd in the league though, two points behind leaders Chelsea but still six points ahead of City and a detour through the Champions League preliminaries.

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