HUMILIATED

 

 

The FA Cup. The oldest large-scale football competition in the world. The one that every English football fan cares about(even if overseas Premiership fans couldn't care less). Having said that, it's been a while since MUFC have lifted the grand old trophy. Last time around was back in '04, and even then we only needed to beat then-Championship Millwall 3-0 at the Millenium Stadium. We've made two further finals since then, the most recent one being '07 when Chelsea proved our downfall and last time round we returned to the English football cathedral for a semi final against Everton only to be done in on penalties. And now we were back for another try.

Last time around, we found ourselves up against then-Championship Southampton at St Mary's in the third round. United fielded a realatively weak starting XI but Wellbeck still opened the scoring and the Saints came in at half time a man short. In the second half United just went on cruise control and the result was that first Nani grabbed a penalty and then with the match seemingly over Gibson grabbed what was his first goal for United. Mission accomplished over a former Premiership bogey side that has been on a downward spiral ever since leaving the top flight. Our '09 Cup run would see much tougher encounters than this before it was over.

This time around, we've found ourselves up against Leeds. Now the Reds and Whites traditionally have a fierce rivalry, however the two sides hadn't faced each other in the Premiership since the 03/04 season with the two sides also butting heads in the Carling Cup that season. As for the FA Cup, well the last time the two sides met it was probably the tie of the 5th round. Steve Bruce, Mark Hughes and Brian McClair were the Red scorers as we won 3-1 at Old Trafford on our way to the final...back in '95! Not exactly a vintage season for us and Sparky's departure that summer was part of a clearout to make way for younger players. The rest is history.

And history is bunk. For Leeds are now down in L1(albeit leaders of that division) and gaffered by Simon Grayson, one of the game's younger managers. While an FA Cup 3rd round tie at Old Trafford between the two sides was still sure to have plenty of atmosphere, a relatively one sided contest was surely on the cards - the Whites just don't have the level of class that was available to them 10 years ago. Still, United came out all guns blazing. 4-4-2, Neville at right back and captain, Evens and Brown at centre back, Fabio left back, Wellbeck right mid, Anderson and Gibson centre mid, Obertan left mid, Rooney and Berbatov up front.

Well by the sounds of the chants being heard at OT, there were a lot of Leeds fans in the ground and the Whites rewarded their noises by giving us quite a rumble, leading to Johnathon Howson lobbing the ball to on form assasin Jermaine Beckford in the 19th minute who was somehow allowed to slide the ball into the net. The Reds weren't having much of that and went in all guns blazing at the other end but while this current Leeds side may have limited class, they certainly are a stubborn bunch and the half time whistle blew with MUFC looking at what was potentially a historical disaster. Yet, surely we'd be able to turn things round?

Well again the Reds came into the second half all guns blazing. Yet there were two things standing in our way. Leeds stubbornnness and our own assasin's stupidity in front of goal. The amount of opportunities blown were rediculous. Owen came on...but couldn't put the ball in the net from six yards! And even then Leeds got big ideas about getting a second, luckilly they didn't. In the last few minutes I'd have been happy to settle for a replay but someone up there was clearly having a laugh at us. The Leeds fans went beserk, and I knew what that meant. For the first time since 1984 when Ron Atkinson was our manager, Manchester United had the label "FA Cup mugs" stuck on them. I honestly never thought I'd see such a scene while Fergie was the gaffer.

Elsewhere, Brentford were due to face Championship Doncaster at Griffin Park. Slight problem, well the ice in Exeter has been been bad enough and apparantly the SW London burbs haven't fared too well either, the match was frozen off. On the one hand this is good news for the Bees, at least they can claim that they'll be in the 4th round draw which is more than can be said for United. However, postponed games have a habit of piling up - luckilly this match has been re-scheduled for what would have been a replay slot. In the meantime, 16 Premiership teams have also survived to reach the 4th round draw, though some will still be at the mercy of replays.

In the 4th round...well Brentford have to get this 3rd round tie against Championship Doncaster out of the way first. The Bees are midtable in their division, Doncaster and lower-to-mid in theirs. Tricky but not impossible for the Bees. If they can pull it off then they'll have to see what happens in the 3rd round replay between Championship Derby and L1 Millwall at Pride Park. Chances are Derby will do the business there. So that would leave the Bees having to deal with a 4th round tie against Derby at Pride Park. I have to admit that if Doncaster don't finish them off then Derby probably will. That brilliant run of '05 is unlikely to repeat itself this time around.

North of the border, Aberdeen have continued their SPL campaign. First up they were beaten 2-0 by Hibs with the visting side hitting the net either side of half time. The Dons finishing the match with ten men didn't help matters. That was followed by the postponement of two matches in a row due to the weather before finally they got their act together by beating Dundee United 1-0 at Tannadice Park with the only goal of the game scored early on. That leaves the Dons 6th in the SPL, seven points behind Dundee United and the targetted Europa League spot while just one point ahead of MOtherwell and the bottom half of the table.

Click here to visit the football archive

Comments get emailed here

Click here to return to sports homepage

Click here to return to Matt G's homepage