UNITED COMEBACK STUNS VILLA
MANCHESTER UNITED produced another memorable comeback to dump Aston Villa out of the FA Cup with a 3-2 win at Villa Park on Sunday.
John Gregory's side raced into a 2-0 lead thanks to Ian Taylor and a Phil Neville own goal, but three goals in five amazing minutes saw Sir Alex Ferguson's side through to the fourth round of the competition.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer grabbed the first before substitute Ruud van Nistelrooy scored two in a minute to stun the home crowd and seal a thrilling win for United.
The early stages of the game saw the champions dominate possession but made few chances with just a blocked shot from Paul Scholes and an effort from Juan Sebastian Veron all they could manage against the Villa defence.
Villa were looking out-of-sorts and had just two corners to show for their efforts of the first 20 minutes, with the bookings of Laurent Blanc and Darius Vassell the only talking points.
David Beckham, who was recalled to the starting line-up, had the first real shot on goal when he broke the offside trap in the 24th minute but fired his shot straight at Peter Schmeichel from the edge of the box.
Sir Alex Ferguson was then forced to make a change when Nicky But went off injured two minutes later and was replaced by Luke Chadwick.
The next chance fell to Chadwick who raced into the box in the 37th minute but dragged his finish wide of Schmeichel's right-hand post.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, playing up front on his own, fired a powerful effort towards goal two minutes later but it was again straight at the Danish shot-stopper.
As the visitors continued to enjoy most of the play, Solskjaer had an effort from a similar position in the 41st minute, but again he dragged his shot wide.
The best chance of the game came just a minute after the interval when Chadwick won the ball from Jlloyd Samuel at the edge of the box but scooped his shot high over the bar.
Solksjaer had a penalty appeal turned down in the 50th minute after he tumbled under the challenge of Steve Staunton, but referee Graham Poll waved play-on.
Two minutes later the home side took the lead against the run of play when Taylor surged forward to latch onto Lee Hendrie's through ball. Taylor held off Phil Neville and poked the ball past Roy Carroll in United's goal to send the Holt End wild.
With the crowd still buzzing from the first goal, Villa doubled their lead in the 54th minute through Phil Neville's own goal.
Paul Merson lofted the ball forward in search of Taylor when Neville headed the ball past Carroll, who had come rushing out to claim the ball, to put John Gregory's side in charge at 2-0.
Ferguson brought on Ruud van Nistelrooy but his side were still unable to create any clear-cut opportunities and Villa had a chance to settle the tie when Juan Pablo Angel just failed to connect with Vassell's cross.
The visitors got right back into the game in the 77th minute when Solksjaer flicked the ball over Olof Mellberg and held off the big Swede before firing the ball between Schmeichel's legs.
The visitors had their tails up now and the equaliser came in the 80th minute when van Nistelrooy controlled Beckham's header on his chest before blasting past Schmeichel.
Villa looked shell-shocked and it took just a minute for the comeback to be complete when van Nistelrooy raced clear of the defence and rounded the Danish goalkeeper to make it 3-2 before disappearing into a crowd of United fans who had spilled onto the pitch in celebration.
Despite a treble substitution from Gregory, Villa had no answer to the visitors and United clinched a superb win to move into the fourth round of the cup.
Match Summary:
