Non-league minnows Exeter City bowed out of the FA Cup with their heads held high after making Manchester United sweat right to the end of their third-round replay on Wednesday night.
It was not until Wayne Rooney’s 87th-minute strike completed a 2-0 win that the world’s richest club, who had taken an early lead through Cristiano Ronaldo, finally guaranteed their place in the fourth round, where they will face Middlesbrough on the final weekend of January.
United’s Premiership colleagues Blackburn and Fulham also made it through, albeit in vastly contrasting style.
Blackburn were somewhat fortunate to come through with a 3-2 win over a Junichi Inamoto-inspired Cardiff, while Fulham were always in control during a 2-0 win over another Championship side, Watford.
Joining the big boys in the fourth round were Hartlepool, who accounted for League Two’s Boston by a 1-0 margin.
The win obtained by a near-full-strength Manchester United side was scarcely less embarrassing than the goalless draw that a second-string United line-up managed against Exeter at Old Trafford 10 days ago.
The only consolation for Sir Alex Ferguson, who had billed that display as the worst of his 18 years in charge at United, was that it could have been infinitely worse.
On a bitterly cold, blustery night in the west country, his side might have been facing extra-time but for Exeter’s failure to take their best chance of the evening, just after the hour mark.
It fell to veteran striker Sean Devine, who pulled away from Gary Neville at the back post as a cross came in from the left and pulled his volley from six yards wide.
It was the chance of the night for Exeter, the chance of a lifetime for Devine, who will regret to his dying day that he did not decide to take the ball down before trying to lash it past Tim Howard in the United goal.
Devine was clearly offside when he did get the ball into the net nine minutes later, but the fact that he had the chance was indicative of the way Exeter’s heart had proved more than a match for the superior technique of their opponents in a nerve-tingling second half.
The way the match finished would have been predicted by few who witnessed the opening stages of the match, and particularly the slick move that led to Ronaldo’s opener.
Cutting in from the left touchline, the Portugal winger fed Paul Scholes and advanced into the area, where he collected an exquisite return pass with consummate skill before firing a low shot through the legs of Exeter’s 18-year-old goalkeeper, Paul Jones.
United had enough chances to have killed the contest by half-time but Rooney and Ryan Giggs failed to take the best of them, setting the scene for a second half that Exeter dominated before Rooney finally waltzed round Jones to make the outcome safe for the Premiership giants.
Blackburn’s latest signing, Robbie Savage, watched from the stand as his new teammates were made to work hard for their narrow win over Cardiff.
A first-half double by David Thompson, who had not scored for nearly a year-and-a-half, gave Rovers the edge at the interval after Jobi McAnuff had cancelled out the midfielder’s first effort.
Morten Gamst Pedersen then extended their lead just after the break but James Collins ensured a nervous end to the match for the home side by pulling a goal back on the rebound from his own header.
Fulham eased past League Cup semifinalists Watford with goals from German defender Moritz Volz and Canadian striker Tomasz Radzinski. — Sapa-AFP