CUP PAYBACK

 

(Image taken from Manutd.com)

First order of business, the early February snow meant that there was some unfinished FA Cup 4th round replay business and so Arsenal faced Championship Cardiff at the Emirates Stadium. Eduardo announced that he was back from his long-term injury by opening the scoring for the Gunners with Niklas Bendtner putting the home side two up. Eduardo then scored a penalty after half time Robin van Persie finally put this tie to bed. A pretty straightforward win for the Gunners that made them the tenth Premiership team to secure a spot in the FA Cup 5th round this season, even though the postponent of this fixture will continue to affect the latter stages of the competition.

As for the 5th round, well last time round, we went up against Arsenal at Old Trafford, who were at the time one of our rivals for the Premiership title. A tough match? Not so much. Wayne and Fletcher put United two up before Arsene Wenger's team knew what had hit them! Nani then got our third and the game was over already at half time. Our opponents had left their footballing brains at home and soon found themselves down to ten men - Fletcher grabbing his second goal with no resistence whatsoever - we could have doubled our tally against the Sunk Guns that day. An amazing result from a United perspective that demoralised the Gunners for the rest of their season.

This time around, we're up against Derby. Well we faced them earlier this season in the Carling Cup and things got interesting. Before that, we faced them last season in the Premiership, they proved to be the dead men walking that time around. For history against them in the FA Cup you have to go back to the Ron Atkinson era. 1983 to be precise. We faced them in a fifth round tie at the Rams' old Baseball Ground. At the time Derby were a second tier side. Gary Bailey, Ray Wilkins, Bryan Robson and Norman Whiteside led the team to a straightforward 1-0 win on the occasion, on our way to winning the trophy. Could history be able to repeat itself?

Well, for starters, there's that Carling Cup semi final. If 'that' more recent history were to repeat itself at the Rams current Pride Park home then we faced the first FA Cup elimination by a lower division team since the start of the Fergie era. Nigel Clough had certainly gotten his side on some pretty good form. And yet United were looking invincible in their own right and so approached this game with something to prove. Fergie went 4-4-1-1. Foster in goal, Rio and Evans in central defence with Evra at left back. Nani right mid, Fletcher and Gibson centre mid, Park left mid. Giggsy was played as our support striker with Ronaldo up front, what has to be the most unusual United forward line of all time.

Not that it really mattered. Yes Derby still gave us a match but this was a much more fired up United side and a much more potent attacking force. The best of Derby's early efforts involved diving in an attempt to get a penalty. It was only a matter of time till their defence gave out. And that happened in the 29th minute when Nani collected a Giggsy pass, seemingly cruised along the edge of the box and then launched a bullet into the Derby net. Before the end of the half, we hit the net two more times. First time aound, it was ruled out for offside only as we were celebrating. However the officials couldn't argue in the 44th minute when Rafael set up Gibson to put the Reds two up.

We didn't hang around in the second half either, a 48th minute Giggsy corner finding the head of Romaldo who seemingly finished the match off. Derby had other ideas though and a 56th minute Robbie Savage free kick found the head of Miles Adison and it seemed that Derby might find a way back into the back. That last glimmer of hope for the Rams went on to fade burt the home side were intent on going down in a blaze of glory with some good chances that they weren't able to get anything from. It was game over when Fetcher set up Wellbeck for an 81st minute low bullet into the far corner and with our opponents outclassed, it was off to the quarter finals again.

Elsewhere, Everton faced Aston Villa in an all-Premiership tie at Goodison Park. Local boy Jack Rodwell opened the scoring with his first goal for Everton though Villa quickly equalised through James Milner. The Toffees regained the lead through Mikel Arteta though and the home side looked to be running the show at half time. Sure enough, Tim Cahil finished the game off in the second half and Villa's best chance of a treophy may have been taken away. So far three Premiership teams have made it through to the FA Cup quarter finals and it could yet be an all-Premiership affair in the last eight, which would be a return to sanity after last year.

So, now we have the quarter finals and the United will face either Championship Swansea or Fulham at either the Liberty Stadium or Craven Cottage. Well the first order of business is the Fulham vs Swansea 5th round replay at Craven Cottage. Realistically, Swansea have blown their chance, Fulham will win that one. So could United handle Fulham at Craven Cottage? Well we certainly should be able to, Roy Hodgeson is a quality manager and we all know anything can happen in the Cup but the Reds should be a grade above the Cottagers on this occasion. In theory, this looks like a workable route into the semis, just a case of seeing what happens in practice.

North of the border, Aberdeen faced Hearts at Tynecastle in the SPL. Darren Mackie opened the scoring for the Dons however it was Hearts that had the edge in the first half and the made it count when Christian Nade equalised just before the whistle. Andrew Driver then completed the turnaround despite the fact that the Dons got their act together in the second half and had the opportunities late on to find an equaliser, but couldn't take them. Another annoying loss for the Dons and after a promising run last month, the Reds seem to be heading for midtable mediocrity. Right now they're just living off luck that the teams immediately below them don't have the best form either.

Elsewhere, Dundee United drew 1-1 with Inverness CT at Tannadice Park. Caley did actually open the scoring despite their lowly position and are on good form under new gaffer Terry Butcher but the Tangerines still grabbed a late equaliser. Motherwell beat Hamilton 1-0 at Fir Park, hitting what turned out to be the winner just d=before half time despite the Accies having the better match on this occasion, the home side's defence hanging on for a scrappy win. That allows the Dons to remain in 5th place in the SPL, still just two points behind Dundee United and a Europa League spot while seven points ahead of Motherwell and the bottom half of the table.

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