Crawley match United

By Chris,
February 23 2011

Despite being second best for long periods, Manchester United sneaked through to the FA Cup quarter-finals on Saturday evening with a 1-0 victory over Crawley Town. The non-league outfit were left to rue a host of spurned chances as Wesley Brown's header proved just enough for the Premier League table-toppers.

Sir Alex Ferguson made nine changes from the side that beat Manchester City, but named an XI full of talent that should have comfortably swept aside Crawley.

However, United were poor and the visitors produced an excellent, ambitious display which warranted at least a draw, if not victory.

The Red Devils broke the deadlock on 27 minutes as Brown met Darron Gibson's cross with a glancing header - but it was a rare moment of excellence on a poor evening for United.

Crawley were particularly impressive after half-time. The Sussex club dominated the latter 45 minutes as United clung on at the death.

Their best chance came in stoppage time. Richard Brodie's header had Anders Lindegaard beaten - but clipped his crossbar to the despair of the 9,000 travelling Crawley fans.

Earlier in the half, Matthew Tubbs had fired a bicycle kick inches over the crossbar from close-range after David Hunt had screwed a volley wide when he really should have hit the target.

United clung on but, in truth, Crawley deserved at least a lucrative replay and can return to their Football Conference campaign full of optimism for a sustained promotion push.

Having watched a similarly weakened United side take a 4-0 thrashing at West Ham earlier in the season in the Carling Cup, Ferguson will now be asking some serious questions of his squad and fringe players.

Despite the poor display, however, United have crept through to the next round and can look ahead to a quarter-final tie against either Leyton Orient or Arsenal. Attentions now turn to the European Champions League and Marseille.

Full Time - Manchester United 1-0 Crawley Town
Attendance - 74,778