Manchester Utd - 2 Leicester City - 0 David Beckham put a weekend of trauma behind him to fire Manchester United to victory at Old Trafford last night and propel his team into the fourth round.
Beckham has proved many times that beneath the pretty boy exterior beats a strong heart and behind the model face a defiant mind.
Last night, 72 hours after learning of a plot to kidnap his wife Victoria and their two children, the England captain led out Manchester United for possibly the least important game of their season.
With other established stars such as Fabien Barthez, Juan Veron and Paul Scholes rested, Beckham could have taken the night off had he pleased. But his stubborness is as important an asset as his right boot and his appearance showed that little, not even events as disturbing as the weekend's, will put him off his game.
He almost gave his side the dream start when he cut the Leicester defence in two after 45 seconds to put Ole Gunnar Solskjaer through on goal, but Andy Impey denied the Norwegian with a last-gasp tackle.
Matt Elliott wasted a decent chance when he headed over the crossbar three minutes later after latching on to a knockdown by Impey but it was a rare attack.
Diego Forlan saw a header brilliantly pushed away by Ian Walker after eight minutes and, after Beckham had been booked for hacking down Jordan Stewart, the Leicester goalkeeper pulled off an excellent double save, first blocking Solskjaer's header and then pushing away Quinton Fortune's rebound.
Forlan twice went close soon after half-time but Alex Ferguson's eagerness to win the tie was shown when he withdrew Phil Neville from midfield with half an hour remaining and threw on Scholes, who gave United's attack the spark it had been lacking.
Leicester wasted a great chance to take the lead with 18 minutes remaining when Paul Dickov's shot was superbly palmed away by Roy Carroll.
United won the tie with 11 minutes remaining, however, when Impey pushed Solskjaer after a Beckham cross, forcing the referee to award a penalty. The United skipper stepped up confidently to score.
A second followed when Solskjaer's cross found the substitute Kieran Richardson who headed home from five yards for his first United goal.
Ricardo Fuller and Eddie Lewis scored for Preston, managed by former Scotland coach Craig Brown, as they knocked out Birmingham City, runners-up two years ago, at St Andrews. Geoff Horsfield was sent off for the home side after 28 minutes for violent conduct and faces a three-match ban.
MANCHESTER UTD: Carroll, Gary Neville, Ferdinand, May, O'Shea, Forlan, Beckham, Phil Neville (Scholes 59), Fortune (Veron 65), Solskjaer, Nardiello (Richardson 74). Subs Not Used: Barthez, Pugh. Booked: Beckham, Phil Neville. Goals: Beckham 80 pen, Richardson 90.
LEICESTER: Walker, Sinclair, Heath, Elliott (Summerbee 51), Rogers (Stevenson 81), Impey, Izzet, Davidson, Stewart, Dickov (Benjamin 81), Scowcroft. Subs Not Used: Reeves, Oakes. Booked: Heath, Impey, Sinclair. Attendance: 47,848.
Referee: C Foy (Merseyside).
