Plucky Palace march on

Manchester U 1 Crystal Palace 2:GLENN MURRAY headed the winner in extra time as Championship side Crystal Palace stunned Manchester United last night. Murray nodded in a free-kick from Darren Ambrose, the scorer of the opening goal, as Palace overturned the odds against a much-changed United team at Old Trafford.

United’s inability to demonstrate the gulf in status against the limited visitors saw them pay the ultimate price. Ambrose, a half-time substitute, had earlier scored a once in a lifetime equaliser.

He picked out the top corner with a cannon of a shot from fully 35 yards, an extraordinary moment in an otherwise ordinary night played in front of United’s lowest crowd at Old Trafford for six years.

The home side never really got going and were fortunate to get an obliging hand from their Championship opponents, specifically Palace’s Irish captain, Patrick McCarthy, who was guilty of pulling down Federico Macheda for the Italian to equalise from the penalty spot.

Ferguson, as always, gave his real first-team the night off and played a more youthful side, reminiscing in his programme notes about the night he started this trend in a second-round tie at Port Vale in 1994, and the following morning complaints were raised in the House of Commons.

Jonny Evans was installed as captain, with the Da Silva twins playing as attacking full-backs, the third-choice goalkeeper, Ben Amos, and rare starts for the likes of Macheda, Mame Biram Diouf and Republic of Ireland international Darron Gibson.

With so many changes, it was probably inevitable that it would be a little disjointed.

Nonetheless, there were large swathes of the match when the team in red looked devoid of confidence and several players fell conspicuously short of what would have been expected.

Palace, 12th in the Championship, did not exhibit any symptoms of stage fright. They looked lively, breaking with pace, particularly through Wilfried Zaha and, by half-time, it was clear that Dougie Freedman’s side were encouraged by the absence of so many of United’s usual performers.

This was a scruffy period for the home side. Macheda was particularly poor, misplacing passes and at one point trying to control a routine ball only to knock it out for a throw-in. He was not, however, alone. There was the sight of Diouf being penalised for a foul throw, and only sporadic moments when they put together a decent string of passes in penetrative areas.

They were also grateful for the leniency of the referee, Chris Foy, when Kagisho Dikgacoi’s pass after a quarter of an hour gave Zaha the chance to run clear.

Zaha went down, with Fabio da Silva leaning in from behind, but Foy decided to give the defender the benefit of the doubt.

Later, United escaped again when Gibson tripped Zaha on the edge of the penalty area.

The night felt flat, with a full-price ticketing policy meaning unusually large expanses of empty red seats.

The crowd needed something to enliven the mood and so it was a pity, for example, that the promising Ravel Morrison had not been given his first start.

As it was, United huffed and puffed their way to the interval. Macheda waved his hand apologetically. Dimitar Berbatov shrugged his shoulders. Fabio da Silva picked up a booking and then limped off, a scene that is becoming depressingly familiar for those who have followed his career.

Later, Rafael da Silva would also limp away. Berbatov was injured, too, making way for Morrison at half-time. Within four minutes, the 18-year-old had demonstrated why there has been so much hype, with a wonderfully executed back-heel into Park Ji-sung’s path. Shortly afterwards he had United’s first shot on target. Another quickly followed in United’s first spell of concerted pressure.

But then Ambrose produced what was quite possibly the goal of his career. The midfielder’s shot dipped, swerved and arrowed into the top corner. However the visitors’ lead was short-lived, McCarthy grabbing at Macheda’s shirt to give away a soft penalty.

Palace, though, did not wilt and Murray finally completed their excellent night’s work.

MANCHESTER UTD: Amos, Rafael Da Silva (Pogba 64), Smalling, Evans, Fabio Da Silva (Fryers 37), Valencia, Gibson, Park, Diouf, Berbatov (Morrison 46), Macheda. Subs not used: Lindegaard, Michael Keane, Cole, Lingard. Booked: Fabio Da Silva, Gibson.

CRYSTAL PALACE: Price, Clyne, McCarthy, Gardner, Moxey (Ambrose 46), Dikgacoi, O’Keefe, Wright, Zaha, Scannell (Parr 45), Easter (Murray 74). Subs not used: Speroni, Iversen, Jedinak, Ramage.

Referee: Chris Foy (Merseyside).