FA Premiership/Wigan Athletic 1 Manchester Utd 2: Ruud van Nistelrooy may no longer be a fixture in United's first team but a difficult period for the Premiership's leading scorer does not seem to have blunted his ability for making telling contributions in front of goal. Again cast in the role of substitute, Van Nistelrooy's introduction contributed to Alex Ferguson's team turning this game upside down.
Van Nistelrooy did not get the goal he would so dearly have cherished, but, somewhat fortuitously, he set up Cristiano Ronaldo for the equaliser.
Wigan were eventually undone by an own-goal from Pascal Chimbonda in stoppage time, the defender applying the final touch after Louis Saha's shot had come down off the underside of the crossbar.
The official line from United was that Saha had not done anything that warranted him being dropped. Van Nistelrooy, for all his immense self-belief, may even recognise as much, his body language nowhere near as indignant as it had been during and after the League Cup final.
The Dutchman will be deeply hurt to have discovered that he is no longer a mandatory first-team pick but his ego will have been partly soothed by hearing his name sung so gustily from the away section. If, as some suspect, Ferguson is beginning a process of detachment leading to Van Nistelrooy's departure, it will not be endorsed by the majority of fans.
Ferguson had opted for exactly the same personnel as their previous encounter yet this was a far-removed display from that which, nine days ago, ruthlessly reminded Wigan about how far they had come since the days of Springfield Park and lower-league anonymity. In Cardiff, it was the speed of thought, the first-time passing and the off-the-ball movement that emphasised the gulf between the two clubs.
Here, Ferguson's team were seldom able to replicate that kind of polished football, enduring long spells of being pressed back by a team that, in terms of purpose and energy, was hardly recognisable from the side that had waved the white flag so early at the Millennium stadium.
Jason Roberts and Henri Camara had transformed back into being the marauding centre-forwards who have troubled so many Premiership defences this season. Graham Kavanagh and Jimmy Bullard turned the tables on Ryan Giggs and John O'Shea by dominating central midfield for long spells, and, with most of the early play at the other end of the pitch, Wayne Rooney failed to reach the exhilarating peaks he scaled in the previous meeting.
Such was the intensity of their pressure, Wigan had a reasonable case that they should have been ahead by half-time, with at least half a dozen presentable opportunities spurned by a combination of inaccurate finishing and Edwin van der Sar's goalkeeping. There was the sight of a panicking Gary Neville conceding a corner from 40 yards and Cristiano Ronaldo throwing a tantrum after being denied a free-kick after throwing himself down once too often.
As the second half got underway, Rooney even treated the home fans to a rare aberration, a skew-whiffed header from Neville's cross showing that there is still one area of his game that needs some fine-tuning.
This was the start of United's first prolonged spell of pressure but, just as it looked as though Wigan might succumb, the home side won a corner and Scharner scored from a classic goalmouth scramble. Ferguson will be appalled by the defending, Scharner the third Wigan player to swing at the ball unchallenged once Giggs had blocked the initial header from Arjan de Zeeuw.
Enter Van Nistelrooy. Giggs took the ball off Kavanagh and fed Ronaldo, who surged forward and laid the ball off to Van Nistelrooy. The substitute's miscued shot fell perfectly for Ronaldo to score from six yards, setting up the grand finale.
WIGAN: Filan; Chimbonda, Scharner, De Zeeuw, Baines, Teale, Bullard, Kavanagh, McCulloch (Ziegler 89), Roberts, Camara. Subs not used: Walsh, Jackson, Johansson, Thompson. Booked: De Zeeuw, Kavanagh, Scharner, McCulloch, Baines. Goal: Scharner 60.
MAN UTD: Van der Sar; Neville, Ferdinand, Brown, Silvestre (Evra 85), Ronaldo, O'Shea, Giggs, Park (van Nistelrooy 71), Saha, Rooney. Subs not used: Howard, Vidic, Richardson. Booked: Giggs, O'Shea, Neville. Goals: Ronaldo 74, Chimbonda 90 og.
Referee: S Bennett (Kent).
