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[INLINE] Issue 975 United on a pleasure cruise By Derick Allsop Man Utd (2) 5 Walsall (0) 1 THE Names may change but it was business as usual for Alex Ferguson's charges as Manchester United worked a safe passage to the fifth round of the FA Cup. The favourites and most successful club in the history of the competition, however, were subjected to an uncomfortable ride before finding cruise control against the Second Division side. Even an early goal by Andy Cole failed to galvanise United and subdue Walsall. Jan Sorensen's team and their 8,000 supporters were intent on savouring the experience and their relish was captured by the enterprise of their French striker, Roger Boli. With better support, Boli might have inflicted embarrassment on United but a second goal, dispatched by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, eased the anxiety of the natives and deflated Walsall. By half-time they were perhaps grateful not to be confronting a hiding. Ferguson, endeavouring to steer United to a 10th Cup success and a unique treble of League, FA Cup and European Cup, kept his pledge to rotate his squad, calling up Phil Neville, Henning Berg, Brian McClair and Ben Thornley. A first-half injury to Denis Irwin gave Michael Clegg a chance. United had extended an invitation to Eric Cantona to attend this match and although there was no evidence of the exiled idol, his one-time team-mate Boli and Jean FranÙois Peron ensured a French connection. Walsall's 35-year-old centre-half and captain, Derek Mountfield, held the Cup aloft for Everton in 1984 - only to hand it over 12 months later to United. Boli was not intimidated by the occasion, audaciously running at United's defence and unleashing a shot which had Peter Schmeichel juggling to recover. It took United 10 minutes to summon a little order - and the opening goal. Thornley played the ball in from the left and for a moment it seemed Cole and Solskjaer might confuse each other. The former accepted the responsibility, spun and drilled the ball into the bottom corner. Solskjaer almost fashioned a chance for himself as United sought to capitalise on their lead. The Norwegian was crowded out and gradually Walsall rediscovered their early zest. John Hodge's shot from the area was deflected for a corner. Cole, too, had his eventual effort deflected wide after penetrating the Walsall defence with an astonishing burst of pace. The striker sensed another opportunity after 37 minutes, only to lose possession. Solskjaer recovered the ball and calmly extended United's advantage. Boli hit a post with a stunning shot, Paul Scholes had two thunderous efforts saved by Walsall's goalkeeper Jimmy Wales, and Cole shaved a post before United stretched into the clear. Cole claimed a third, after 66 minutes, and two minutes later Solskjaer scored his second. Boli salvaged personal reward, heading in Peron's centre after 72 minutes but Ronny Johnsen headed a fifth for United two minutes later. __________________________________________________________ Man Utd (2) 5 Walsall (0) 1 Cole 10, Solskjaer 39, Cole 65, Solskjaer 69, Johnsen 74; Boli 72. Man Utd: Schmeichel, P. Neville, Irwin (Clegg 24), Johnsen, Beckham, Cole, Berg, McClair, Scholes (Mulryne 69), Solskjaer, Thornley (Nevland 64). Subs Not Used: G. Neville, Giggs. Booked: Solskjaer. Walsall: Walker, Evans, Marsh, Viveash, Mountfield, Peron (Blake 88), Boli, Porter, Keates, Watson, Hodge. Subs Not Used: Naisbett, Roper, Platt, Ricketts. Att: 54,669 Ref: P A Durkin (Portland). __________________________________________________________ Arsenal join Man Utd in F.A. Cup fifth round (Adds quotes, details) By Alan Baldwin LONDON, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Arsenal knocked last season's losing finalists Middlesbrough out of the English F.A. Cup on Saturday while overwhelming favourites Manchester United crushed second division Walsall 5-1. Arsenal old boy Paul Merson scored for Middlesbrough but the first division side went out 2-1 to the north Londoners, who were in a class of their own in the first half but lost their way in the second. Dutchman Marc Overmars put Arsenal ahead after 90 seconds, a nightmare relived for 'Boro who lost the 1997 Wembley final to Chelsea when Roberto Di Matteo scored the fastest goal in the competition's history after 43 seconds. Ray Parlour made it 2-0 in the 19th minute after a wonderful counter-attacking move with French forward Nicolas Anelka laying on a defence-splitting pass. Overmars could have scored a hat-trick in the first half but the second brought 'Boro many more chances. Merson set the match alight with a 62nd minute strike, sidestepping onrushing Austrian goalkeeper Alex Manninger, standing in for the injured David Seaman, and then tucking away the shot past two defenders. Merson sent Danish striker Mikkel Beck through with three minutes remaining but his shot was a lame one. At the end, Merson -- who spent 13 years at Highbury before his surprising move to the Riverside Stadium -- ran to the Arsenal fans and threw them his Middlesbrough shirt. "The first half was horrible, the second half I enjoyed every bit of it," said the former England player. Walsall had hopes of pulling off probably the greatest upset in the cup's history but, as expected, the chance never materialised against a rampant Manchester United who had accounted for holders Chelsea 5-3. Andy Cole and Norwegian Ole Gunnar Solskjaer scored two each and Ronnie Johnsen provided the fifth to give United a cup scoring record of 10 goals in two matches. French striker Roger Boli, brother of Basile and a friend of former United hero Eric Cantona, earned Walsall some respect with a powerful header off a 72nd minute corner. The match that has captured the public imagination, Newcastle United's trip to semi-professional Stevenage, will be played on Sunday. In the meantime there were no upsets, although two premier league clubs went out. Dion Dublin scored Coventry's two goals to dump Derby County out and Bruce Dyer scored a hat-trick for Crystal Palace in a 3-0 defeat of Leicester City, the League Cup holders. "There are a couple of times in your career when you're on a high and can do nothing wrong. He's never played as well as this," said Coventry manager Gordon Strachan of Dublin, who turned down a move to Middlesbrough during the week. Tottenham Hotspur and Barnsley drew their all premier league tie 1-1, with England defender Sol Campbell banging in a corner in the 30th minute. Barnsley captain Neil Redfearn earned a replay with a 59th minute penalty. Palace, with five first choice players out, have not won at home in the premier league all season. Dyer's goals in the 33rd, 62nd and 66th minutes maintained the struggling south London side's good cup form however. "I've had an up and down season through injury and it's only now that I'm starting to find my form a little bit," he said. Birmingham City beat Stockport County 2-1 in an all first division clash, with Bryan Hughes scoring twice. Stockport had two men sent off but still fought back to equalise in the 66th minute through Alun Armstrong. Hughes then struck six minutes from time to see City through. Premier league Wimbledon beat first division Huddersfield 1-0 despite losing two men in the first 10 minutes. Robbie Earle went off in the second minute with a muscle strain and Ceri Hughes followed with a hamstring problem. Leeds United beat second division Grimsby Town 2-0, but took 45 minutes to break the ice. UEFA Cup quarter-finalists Aston Villa, in an early afternoon match, beat local rivals West Bromwich Albion 4-0 after Simon Grayson scored in the fourth minute. Villa were without Yugoslav striker Savo Milosevic, transfer-listed after spitting at fans last weekend. Dwight Yorke scored twice and Stan Collymore hit the fourth. © Reuters Limited 1997 __________________________________________________________ January 25 1998 FOOTBALL Cole lights the way as United cruise through Chris Lightbown at Old Trafford Manchester United 5 Walsall 1 PERFORMANCES LIKE this make Manchester United seem unbeatable. Not because they were brilliant throughout - they were not. They flourished in the second half after the creakiest of openings. But, even then, they were sitting on a fairly easy 2-0 lead by half-time. Their resources and ability to raise their game after a flat period are quite stunning. If there was a realistic chance that Walsall were ever going to do anything spectacular, it seemed to have ended in the second minute. That was when Roger Boli unleashed a shot of inordinate power from around 25 yards at the end of a drifting and apparently somewhat aimless run. Peter Schmeichel had some difficulty dealing with the shot's height and power. Thereafter, matters became predictable. The opening goal involved Andy Cole collecting, turning and shooting after Ben Thornley had sent over a low and routine ball. That, at least, shunted United into gear. Their defensive work had begun as cleanly as ever and, goodness knows, Cole was lighting up every time he got as much as a sniff of the ball. But they were not exactly sweeping through midfield and took time to get the ball out to the flanks. In the moments and gaps which this left, Dean Keates worked really hard to get Walsall going. Keates was playing in midfield, just in front of the visitor's strident defence. Here he cleared a ball away purposefully; there he placed a pass with pinpoint accuracy towards Boli or towards Andrew Watson, Walsall's other striker. Boli was something of a problem. The turns and twists were certainly eye-catching, but there was not always much on the end of the eye-catching stuff. After 34 minutes, Boli fell over as Brian McClair started to jockey him in the most routine manner. After 14 minutes Boli attempted to flick the ball through mid-air towards Jean François Peron in the depths of United's penalty area. Cheeky stuff. Stuff that could not possibly work against United's fit young defenders, either, and the ball went out to touch. Other Boli tricks and flicks met a similar fate. But then, after 51 minutes, Boli unleashed another shot even more wondrous than the first, which Schmeichel barely saw and which did everything but go in. In any event, United were 2-0 up by now. Another of their somewhat laboured moves was apparently going nowhere in particular when David Beckham worked the ball in from the right flank. It came to Cole, who seemed to dither. Whereupon Ole Gunnar Solskjaer virtually took the ball off Cole's feet, swerved just a little, and cracked it into James Walker's goal. To their credit, Walsall barely budged. The combination of Adrian Viveash and Derek Mountfield was enough to keep Cole and Solskjaer at bay for prolonged periods and only when Beckham briefly moved into midfield did United start to hum. However, in the opening 10 minutes of the second half, and for intermittent periods thereafter, United turned Walsall's penalty area into a pin-cushion. Shots, crosses and runs rained in on Walker's area as if United were unleashing the fire they had withheld earlier on. In one 60-second period there were three attempts on his goal that threatened to tear out the netting. At the end of one move, Beckham put a foot wrong - something he rarely did throughout the second half - and a ferocious shot that had been on its way over the goal-line was diverted over the bar instead. But no matter. United's third goal was a stunner. Erik Nevland had just come on and, with what was almost his first touch, launched a single-handed counter-attack down the left flank. At the finish, he was crowded out by weight of numbers. But only just. Cole took the ball on, Nevland prodded it back and Cole scored - all in less time than it takes to tell. The fag end of the gold rush would have lit up most games. Solskjaer scored at the end of a counter-attack which he had led almost from the centre circle. Boli scored with the deftest of headers when little seemed possible and Ronny Johnsen headed in directly from a Beckham corner. By the end such masterpieces were reduced almost to details. Manchester United: Schmeichel, Irwin (Clegg 24min), Berg, Johnsen, P Neville, Beckham, McClair, Scholes (Mulryne 69min), Thornley (Nevland 64min), Solskjaer, Cole. Scorers: Cole 10, 65, Solskjaer 38, 69, Johnsen 74. Walsall: Walker, Evans, Mountfield, Viveash, Marsh, Hodge, Keates,Porter, Peron (Blake 88min), Watson, Boli. Scorer: Boli 72. Booked: Solskjaer (23min). Referee: P Durkin (Portland). Attendance: 54,669. Copyright 1998 The Times Newspapers Limited. __________________________________________________________ WALSALL DEFEND ALL-OUT ATTACK By Paul Walker, PA Sport Alex Ferguson praised Walsall's brave, attacking approach to the FA Cup tie at Old Trafford after Manchester United's 5-1 win. And Walsall chief Jan Sorensen defended his open tactics, saying "Yes we could have come here and dug a few ditches on the 18-yard line and just kicked the ball away. "But some of my players may never come to a stadium like this again, and the club may have one game like this in 10 years. "Do we all want to remember the day as one where we just stuck 10 men behind the ball and defended? "We would still probably have lost 5-1. "But we would rather remember the day as one where we came and attacked and created a few chances against the best team in the country, probably Europe." Ferguson said: "It was a fine cup tie. Walsall came with an admirable attitude. "They could have defended with 10 men and made it a poor spectacle. "But their approach made it an entertaining game. "What that meant was that they did expose themselves to possibly being beaten 5-1, but they gave themselves the chance to make chances and score a goal. "I'm sure they went away happier with their own game and their own performance and they enjoyed themselves more, because a few of them won't get the chance to play here again." Ferguson added: "Our first goal was magnificent, and frankly it's that bit of extra quality you expect from Premiership players. "I had no problems with the attitude of my players. "We made a few changes and I assure everyone that I will make changes again for the next round - whoever we play." © PA Sporting Life |
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