Manchester United 2 Crystal Palace 0Louis Saha provided Alex Ferguson with conclusive proof Manchester United's Premiership goalscoring worries are only temporary.
The £12.8 million French forward, who labelled his last-minute miss against Manchester City on Sunday "a disgrace" provided the one moment of inspiration on an otherwise instantly forgettable night at Old Trafford as United eased into the League Cup quarter-finals.
Saha watched intently as Quinton Fortune's angled ball dropped towards the far edge of the six-yard box. The former Fulham man took it down on his chest with a sublime piece of control that took two Crystal Palace defenders out of the game. Then, he deftly rolled the ball forward and smashed a near-post shot into the net.
It was his first goal of the campaign but, with more match practice behind him there will surely be more to come and Ferguson must be tempted to unite Saha with Ruud van Nistelrooy at Newcastle on Sunday as United chase the victory so essential to revive their flagging title hopes.
Kieran Richardson is unlikely to be involved at St James' Park but the 20-year-old proved he is developing in the right manner, capping a fine left-wing display with a goal that owed much to an error from Julian Speroni.
Ferguson's policy of using the League Cup as a breeding ground for young talent or to give some of his fringe players a run-out is well established so to see a United line-up showing 10 changes from the side that started against City was not a surprise.
What did come as a shock was Iain Dowie's decision to field a completely different team to the one that earned a creditable draw against Arsenal at the weekend.
To say the game was a slow burner would be a supreme understatement. It was fully 20 minutes before either goalkeeper had a shot to save and even then Sandor Torghelle should have done far better than drill an effort into Tim Howard's body after John O'Shea had blundered close to his own area. Saha opened the scoring soon afterwards with a goal totally not in keeping with the rest of what passed for entertainment.
Speroni might have done better with the Frenchman's near-post effort but it was hit at such close range, with such stinging power that criticism would be harsh. If Speroni was not at fault for the first goal, he definitely was for the second as he let Richardson's shot bounce through his hands.
Gary Borrowdale was equally culpable for giving Richardson the room to cut in off the right flank, not that the young Londoner was complaining as he celebrated only his second senior goal.
Meanwhile, Malcolm Glazer is threatening to vote against the re-election of three Manchester United directors at tomorrow's annual shareholders' meeting, a move that would be an effective declaration of war on the board. Glazer, owner of Tampa Bay Buccaneers, is said to be "still furious" at the board's decision to abandon takeover talks last month.
MAN UTD: Howard, Phil Neville, Brown, O'Shea, Fortune, Kleberson (Spector 79), Fletcher, Djemba-Djemba, Richardson (Eagles 79), Bellion (Rossi 86), Saha. Subs Not Used: Ricardo, Ngalula. Goals: Saha 22, Richardson 39.
CRYSTAL PALACE: Speroni, Butterfield (Shipperley 77), Hudson, Powell, Borrowdale, Leigertwood, Soares, Danze (Lakis 45), Derry, Torghelle (Kaviedes 69), Freedman. Subs Not Used: Kiraly, Boyce. Booked: Hudson.
Referee: S Dunn (Gloucestershire).
