UNITED SUCCUMB AS FA CUP ENTERS TWILIGHT ZONE, DONS FAIL TO SLAY CELTIC

 

 

Last time round, United faced Middlesborough in the FA Cup quarter finals. The original match was at the Riverside and Boro wrestled us to a 2-2 draw which benefitted no one, particularly not United who wound up having to fit in a replay only two days after a Premiership match! That was at Old Trafford and despite Boro doing all they could in terms of defending, we still won the match 1-0. Unuted were the better side on that day though so Gareth Southgate couldn't really complain.

The last time we faced Portsmouth in the FA Cup was in last season's 4th round. The match was at Old Trafford and even though the score was level at half time we still took care of business. Other than that though, we don't really have much Cup history with Pompey, or at least not in the latter stages! There was a 5th round tie back in 1950 but the two sides have never met in the last eight of the Cup so whatever happened, this tie was going to be a small part of history.

Well we've faced Pompey twice in the Premiership already this season. Our trip to Fratton Park didn't go so well, however we took care of business at Old Trafford well enough. So we have us an FA Cup quarter final at Old Trafford. United reverted to 4-4-2. Rio as captain, Ronaldo right mid, Scholes and Hargreves centre mid, Nani left mid, Rooney and Tevez up front. One of our stronger sides, at Old Trafford, against midtable Premiership opposition. It looked straightforward.

Well we hammered the Portsmouth goal from the start and could have had an early penalty. Harry Redknapp's basic idea soon become obvious, all out defence and try to catch us on the break. Of course the United strike force had other ideas and Tevez really should have scored but his shot was cleared off the line! Credit to the Pompey defence for being stubborn though we really should have been able to hit the net. Still, there was 45 minutes to go.

Van de Saar getting injured and replaced by Kuszczak at half time shouldn't have been that big an issue. Still, that didn't affect the mood of the United attackers and so the game still largely took place in Portsmouth's half. As the game drew on though I was cursing our inability to score and what wound up happening in the 78th minute was nothing short of disaster! Kuszczak fouled a Portsmouth striker in the box, OK. Despite not being the last defender he stil got sent off which forced Rio into goal and Sulley Muntar was able to slot the resulting penalty! United still weren't able to score and this ended our FA Cup run for another year in the most sickening of fashions!

Stranger things were to come though! Championship Barnsley beat Chelsea 1-0 at Oakwell to garuntee that there would be no really big guns in the FA Cup semis for the first time in hell knows how long! Then Middlesborough were beaten 2-0 by another Championship side, Cardiff at the Riverside! Three non-top flight sides in the FA Cup semis? Championship West Brom then beat L1 Bristol Rovers at The Memorial Stadium. The 2008 FA Cup will go down as the competition where the Premiership got mugged enmasse.

Where do we go from here? Well the draw for the semi finals has been made. First up will be Portsmouth vs West Brom at Wembley. Portsmouth are the safe bet to go through from there. Then we have Barnsley vs Cardiff, also at Wembley, in the first all-non-Premiership FA Cup semi since '04! Cardiff are doing better in the Championship at the moment so they're my hunch to go through. Portsmouth vs Cardiff in the FA Cup final at Wembley? I never expected to be predicting that matchup. Pompey would probably win it, even if the last time they won the Cup was before World War II!

There was some Premiership action going on in the meantime though with Wigan playing Arsenal in the JJB stadium. The Gunners had an early chance from Emmanual Adebayor but Steve Bruce's crew did us some big favours by stifling the side that saw off AC Milan midweek. Wigan may not have had many real chances of their own but they would certainly have been the happier side after this. So United remain in second place, two points behind leaders Arsenal but with a game in hand while Chelsea and the Champions League preliminaries lie six points behind us but the Blues have a game in hand.

North of the border, the last time Aberdeen reached the Scottish Cup quarter finals was back in the 04/05 season and they got caned by Dundee United 4-1 at Tannadice Park. For the last time they actually won a match at this stage of the competition though, you have to go back to 95/96. Roy Aitken had his stupid moments as Dons manager but signing Dean Windass wasn't one of them and the English assasin hit the winner in a 2-1 win over Airdrie at Pittodrie.

This time round, the Dons were up against Celtic. Which makes this a rematch of a quarter final from 01/02 when the Celts won 2-0 over a Dons side that included Robbie Winters. However the bigger match in the memories of Dons fans who are old enough to remember it(i.e not quite me even though I was up there at the time) was the Final of 1990 at Hampden. Jocky Scott was manager, Theo Snelders in goal, Stewart McKimmie and Alex McLeish in defence, Paul Mason in there as well, a young Eion Jess in there somewhere. 0-0 even after extra time before the Dons won on penalties.

This time round though, the Reds and Greens couldn't really claim to be competing on equal footing. The Dons SPL form has been absolutely useless recently while Gordon Strachen's crew just go from strength to strength in the title race! So any Cup meeting, even at Pittodrie would be watch more in hope than expectation by Dons fans. Derek Souter was in goal for the Dons, Jamie Smith right mid, Severin and Touzani centre mid, De Visscher left mid and Miller and Maguire up front.

Well the Dons soon showed the SPL leaders whose house this was and did hit the net in the opening minutes only for the attempt to be ruled offside. The Celts soon replied though and did likewise. The early end to end period of the game gradually evolved into a period of Celtic dominance and injuries didn't help the Reds cause either. Along with breaking for the odd counter, the Dons were able to dodge bullets untill half time.

Celtic picked up where they left off after half time and it was all hands to the pump for a while with the Red defence succsessfully holding out, though a string of Celt corners made it seem as though the Old Firm side were garunteed to score at some point. However as the match progressed it was the Dons that went on the attack and in the 78th minute a De Visscher-Miller 1-2 resulted in the Dutchman scoring! It looked like the Dons had pulled off another Cup miracle this season but the Celts came back and in injury time Georgios Samaras crossed to Jan Vanegoor of Hesselink to kill off that particular dream.

Elsewhere, Queen of the South beat Dundee 2-0 in an all-D1 clash at Palmerston Park. Another D1 side St Johnstone managed to hold St Mirren to a 1-1 draw at McDiamond Park. The fourth quarter final had yet to be played. It'll be between Rangers and D1 Partick at Ibrox with the Gers having seen off Hibs only this weekend due a string of postponements in earlier rounds. That match will take place at the same time as the replays in other ties.

So, Aberdeen's next order of Scottish Cup business is a quarter final replay against Celtic at Celtic Park. Well if the original Pittodrie tie was watched more in hope than expectation then the replay is a probable suicide run for the Dons. If they somehow manage to survive though they they are probably headed to the final, because they'll be facing Queen of the South in the semis at Hampden Park. Queen are a D1 side that the Dons should cruise past.

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