By David Hobbs
May 1 2005

United's onslaught on an automatic Champions League spot continued with a 4-0 drubbing of Charlton Athletic. Goals from Scholes, Fletcher, Smith and Rooney sealed the win as Chris Perry was dismissed late on.

United Cruise Past Charlton

Charlton Athletic 0
Perry Sent off, 85

Manchester United 4
Scholes, 34
Fletcher, 44
Smith, 62
 Rooney, 67

Manchester United's onslaught on an automatic Champions League spot continued with a 4-0 drubbing of Charlton Athletic.

United travelled to London to face a Charlton side who have been out of sorts lately, and the visitors took full advantage with a superb display.

Goals from Paul Scholes, Darren Fletcher, Alan Smith and Wayne Rooney confirmed an emphatic win for United to secure back-to-back Premiership wins. Sir Alex Ferguson's side are within a point of Arsenal and the runners-up spot is still a distinct possibility.

Roy Carroll was handed a surprise start in-between the sticks at the expense of Tim Howard as Paul Scholes returned from suspension. Charlton also changed their goalkeeper, handing Stephen Andersen a debut.

Francis Jeffers tested Roy Carroll's gloves just minutes into the game, parrying an 18-yard shot. Debutant Andersen matched Carroll's save to deny Alan Smith's thunderous attempt.

Paul Scholes took advantage of El Karkouri's mistake, but Andersen rushed to his side's rescue to swipe the ball away from danger.

However, the Red Devils took a deserved lead just after the half-hour mark as Paul Scholes pounced to meet Wayne Rooney's shot. 

Slack defending allowed United to double their advantage before the interval. Darren Fletcher used of acres of space to drill home from the edge of the area.

Wayne Rooney struck the post moments into the second half before Alan Smith netted his first goal of the year. Smith cleverly chipped Andersen to put United 3-0 up.

Andersen didn't deserve to concede so many goals after a string of fine saves, but was hapless to see Rooney round off the day with United's 4th goal.

Charlton's performance got from bad to worse as Chris Perry was dismissed for a foul on Wes Brown.

Final Score: Charlton Athletic 0 - 4 Manchester United
Att: 26,789

Charlton Athletic: S Andersen, L Young, T El Karkouri, J Fortune, P Konchesky, R Kishishev (68 C Perry) , M Holland, D Murphy, D Rommedahl (68 J Euell) , J Johansson, F Jeffers (56 K Lisbie)
Substitutes: D Kiely, C Perry, J Euell, K Lisbie, B Hughes

Manchester United: R Carroll, J O'Shea, R Ferdinand, W Brown, M Silvestre, R Giggs, R Keane (65 J Kleberson) , P Scholes (64 P Neville) , D Fletcher, W Rooney (69 Q Fortune) , A Smith
Substitute: T Howard, P Neville, C Ronaldo, J Kleberson, Q Fortune

Refereed By: D Gallagher