ENGLISH LEAGUE CUP Barnsley 0 Manchester Utd 2: MANCHESTER UNITED finished with 10 men for the second time in three days but this time on the winning side as goals from Danny Welbeck and Michael Owen ensured English League Cup progress before Gary Neville was shown a straight red for a reckless tackle.
Alex Ferguson for once accepted the sending off was merited. “I think he followed through and caught the boy, not high but just above the ankle,” said the United manager.
“I think in the present climate the referee was correct.”
Ferguson’s response to the defeat at Anfield on Sunday was to make no fewer than 11 changes to the starting line-up. It is impossible to swing the axe any more savagely than that, though there is always the possibility that had United won at Liverpool he would have given the whole team a rest.
This is the League Cup, after all, and while Owen must have been delighted to start he found himself partnering Federico Macheda up front, with Gabriel Obertan and Welbeck providing width.
The bad news for Barnsley was that a combination of three of those players was good enough to put the visitors in front after six minutes. From United’s first real attack of any note, Obertan’s cross for Owen was diverted behind for a corner.
Anderson clipped in a cross from the set-piece and Welbeck rose unchallenged to score with a simple header at the near post.
If that took some of the urgency out of the situation, Welbeck almost killed the tie stone dead five minutes later but saw Luke Steele keep out his goal-bound drive.
The Barnsley goalkeeper also did well to deny Obertan midway through the first half after Owen had pushed a clever ball through for the former Bordeaux winger to chase. Obertan read Owen’s intention yet allowed Steele to save with his legs.
Not that the home side allowed United all their own way. A promising Adam Hammill run past Welbeck and through the heart of the defence ended with a slightly disappointing shot high, and when the same player sent over a corner shortly after Obertan’s miss Stephen Foster thumped a header against the crossbar.
By the time Daniel Bogdanovic rolled a cross invitingly along United’s undefended goalline on the stroke of half-time, Mark Robins’ side must have been regretting their early lapse of concentration.
There was no-one to apply the final touch to Bogdanovic’s centre, though United’s initial threat had evaporated and Barnsley found a way through their opponents’ defence on several occasions, even if they never looked quite capable of summoning a killer finish.
All the same Barnsley took their eye off the ball again at the start of the second half. You would have put money on Owen scoring once he fastened on to Welbeck’s neat through ball and stayed onside to find himself one-on-one with Steele, yet by his standards the finish was a poor one. Welbeck was withdrawn and his replacement, Zoran Tosic, nearly scored with his first significant touch.
Owen made the game safe on the hour, taking the ball direct from Fabio da Silva’s throw-in and spinning away from a defender to give himself space before poking a low shot past Steele.
Neville made the last half-hour more interesting by getting himself dismissed on 63 minutes, lunging into a tackle and catching Hammill on the shin.
United are used to playing with 10 men though, and even their second-string side was not going to let a two-goal lead slip against Championship opposition.
Guardian Service
BARNSLEY: Steele, Kozluk, Moore, Foster, Julian Gray, De Silva (Campbell-Ryce 71), Colace (Butterfield 77), Hallfredsson, Hammill, Macken (Hume 65), Bogdanovic. Subs not used: Preece, Hassell, Thompson, Devaney. Booked: De Silva, Colace, Bogdanovic.
MANCHESTER UTD: Foster, Neville, Brown, Jonathan Evans, Fabio Da Silva, Obertan, Rafael Da Silva, Anderson, Welbeck (Tosic 53), Macheda, Owen (De Laet 65). Subs not used: Amos, O'Shea, Corry Evans, King, James. Sent off: Neville (63). Booked: Fabio Da Silva, Tosic.
Referee: Chris Foy(Merseyside).
