UNITED BREAK THROUGH BORO WALL

 

(Image taken from Manutd.com)

 

Well, United have already had to deal with one FA Cup replay this season, against Reading at the Madjeski stadium in round 5. We won that 3-2 to make the quarter finals in the first place. The last time we had to deal with a replay within the last eight of the competition though? The last ever FA Cup semi final replay back in '99. That game against Arsenal at Villa Park won by that goal. And before that, that 1970 quarter final tie against Middlesborough went to a replay which we won 2-1 at Old Trafford.

So over 30 years later, the two sides met again at Old Trafford for another FA Cup quarter final replay after the two side drew 2-2 at the Riverside. For this game it was Brown at right back with Gary injured which left Giggsy with both the captaincy and a spot in central midfield alongside Carrick and Rooney and Smith upfront. For their part, Boro had fielded a weakened team for Premiership duty on the weekend, this was clearly their game of the season.

Well neither side really took control in the first half, Mark Viduka having a good chance early on that only just went wide. However United gradually gained the edge over Boro and we went on to have the bulk of the chances, though they weren't anything the Boro defence couldn't handle. The visitors dodged a bullet late on in the half but while United looked like the classier side, Gareth Southgate clearly knew what he was doing to counter us.

Boro's gameplan for the second half looked like this. Go all-out defence and hope to get a late winner. It certainly worked to a large extent though we still got our chances only for United attackers to send wide. Boro had little to offer as a counter attacking reply though and so a United goal was inevitable and it happened when Ronaldo was hacked on the goal-line in the 76th minute then sent the Boro goalie the wrong way from the spot. Boro whined about the incident though and the resulting blowing of tempers led to the visitors finishing the game with ten men. A messy win, but we're still into the semis.

Elsewhere, Spurs faced Chelsea at White Hart Lane in their replay. The first half was certainly fiery in terms of shots fired but the game was still goallless at half time. However Chelsea looked to put the game in the bank early on in the second half with Andriy Shevchenko and Shaun Wright-Phillips hitting the net. Robbie Keane fired in a penalty to give Spurs a shot at a late comeback but it didn't happen and some nutter of a s Spurs fan clearly didn't like that idea.

Anyway, we're in the FA Cup semi finals and we're going to face Watford at Villa Park. To which all I can say ahead of time is "we're going to Wembley". The Hornets are the dead men walking of the Premiership and we've already beaten them home and away. Furthermore, their run to the semis isn't exactly awe-inspiring. They beat West Ham away in round 4 but other than that, all their scalps have been lower League sides and I can't see anything other than an easy United win here.

Euro 2008 action on the weekend.

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