United ease past battling minnows
NORTHAMPTON, England -- Manchester United avoided an FA Cup upset with a 3-0 win against battling minnows Northampton Town at the Sixfields stadium on Sunday.
French defender Mikael Silvestre's scrappy first-half opener, an own-goal two minutes after the break by Chris Hargreaves and a close-range tap in from Diego Forlan saw the English champions into round five.
The last time the sides met in 1970 saw a famous 8-2 win for United with George Best scoring six goals.
But on this occasion Third Division Northampton though were far from overwhelmed.
Impressive Northampton keeper Lee Harper saved a penalty from Forlan and, with United 2-0 up, Marc Richards almost pulled one back when his 20-yard shot hit the crossbar on the hour mark.
United manager Sir Alex Ferguson left out several big names including captain Roy Keane and goalkeeper Tim Howard, while forwards Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ryan Giggs were not even on the bench.
Northampton's fans must have feared the worst when, in the third minute, referee Steve Bennett harshly ruled Greg Lincoln had impeded Cristiano Ronaldo as the Portuguese forward tried to get to Quinton Fortune's cross.
Uruguay's Forlan took over spot-kick duties from the absent van Nistelrooy only to see Harper guess correctly, the keeper diving to his right to pull off a fine save.
Derek Asamoah, whose pace troubled United's defence, then fired over after a one-two with Martin Smith.
And the striker failed to make the most of an even better chance when he was played in beyond Wes Brown.
Reserve keeper Roy Carroll blocked Asamoah's first shot and the rebound hit the striker before bouncing wide.
Colin Calderwood's men were more than playing their part with Harper having a day to remember as he saved a Forlan header and then kept out unimpressive French striker David Bellion's shot.
United, after wasting several good chances, grabbed a scrappy opener in the 34th minute.
Northampton skipper Paul Reid blocked Ronaldo's cross but from close range saw the ball deflect onto Harper who could not hold on before Silvestre poked home from barely a yard out.
In the second half, after Harper had saved from Paul Scholes - United's captain for the day - another messy goal saw the visitors double their lead.
Ronaldo's outswinging corner from the right was a horrible one for any defender to deal with and in trying to clear the danger Hargreaves put the ball into his own net in the 47th minute.
There was then a lengthy stoppage as Northampton's Chris Carruthers was stretchered off with what looked like a serious injury.
Forlan's luck eventually turned in the 68th minute when following Ronaldo's header back across goal he tapped in to make it 3-0.
More Harper heroics denied United a fourth, the keeper tipping substitute Kieran Richardson's 20-yard shot onto the crossbar in the 80th minute before holding Forlan's deflected shot from outside the box.
And in stoppage time he saved from Ronaldo after the striker's run ended with him shooting tamely at the Cobblers hero.
There was still time for the hosts to pull one back but Asamoah, following up after Carroll failed to hold on, hit the post.
