Double delight: Michael Owen struck twice to celebrate
his first goals of the season
Sir Alex Ferguson
missed only the third game of his 24-year Manchester United reign
as he travelled to Spain to watch next week's Champions League
opponents Valencia.
News of his side's rampant
display from the less glamorous setting of Glanford Park would have
delighted him.
Despite starting nervously
against Ian Baraclough's progressive Scunthorpe side, United
recovered from falling behind to an early goal to ease past their
Championship opponents with some clinical football.
But when the youngster was
finally given his opportunity he acquitted himself well. He would
appear to have pace to spare and he may even have scored a
spectacular goal, only for his ambitious shot to take a deflection
and spin over the crossbar.
Big day out: Substitute Bebe is held up by Scunthorpe
skipper Byrne as he makes his United debut
Earlier in the day Ferguson
had given an interview to CNN and offered some insight in to why he
had bought such an unknown player.
The manager said: 'It was a
bit of a leap into the dark really because we hadn't seen him play
but we sent down one of our scouts and he came back and said:
"There's something exceptional here, we'll maybe be seeing
something really special".
'So we took the gamble. It was
one of those instinctive things. You have a smell about something
and you take it. Since he's joined, we've been working on him
physically. He's played one reserve game and you'll see the
progress now.'
For Bebe, there will be bigger
nights. Certainly, there are likely to be bigger tests for him in
this competition.
Ferguson should stick with the
team on view on Wednesday night - with one or two noteable
exceptions - through a tournament he has won with the help of
under-strength sides for the last two years.
Scunthorpe more than
contributed to a good tie. Their fluent, aggressive football
ensured they were a threat all night. Indeed, United goalkeeper
Tomasz Kuszczak made more saves than his counterpart Joe
Murphy.
Scunthorpe were particulary
potent from distance and United's Polish goalkeeper was busy on at
least 10 occasions.
Overall, however, United were
impressive in the way in which they took their chances and
recovered after Josh Wright's goal from distance.
Wright and midfield
counterpart Martyn Woolford were impressive throughout. It was just
a shame for the home fans that strikers Jonathan Forte and Chris
Dagnall were not quite as dangerous.
The 10 minutes which followed
Wright's goal proved decisive. At the time they looked capable of
stretching their lead as United had started poorly, with Rio
Ferdinand looking decidedly out of sorts and United's midfield
unable to secure any kind of prolonged possession.
Had Baraclough's team scored
again then, the game may have got away from United. As it was, they
equalised out of nothing as Darron Gibson ran on to Chris Smallings
long pass down the right to lob Murphy from a tight
angle.
Smalling scores United's second goal
Taking charge: Assistant boss Mike Phelan stepped in
for absent Sir Alex Ferguson
Scunthorpe captain Cliff Byrne
then headed a corner over when he should have scored and United
exacted the most painful form of punishment when Smalling himself -
still upfield following a poorly-cleared corner - diverted a low
cross from Park Ji-Sung in to the goal from close range to give his
side an unexpected lead at half-time.
After the break Scunthorpe
attempted to take the game back to United but their play became a
little gung-ho and United picked them off twice on the counter
before the hour.
Federico Macheda,
disappointing on the whole, played Michael Owen clear for the
former England striker to score with little fuss and then Park -
strangely absent from the United first team recently - drove a low
shot home from just inside the penalty area.
Caretaker boss Baraclough must
have felt a little aggrieved. His team had done little wrong. By
now, however, United were in their element and this was turning in
to a very good night for the likes of Owen, Park, Gibson and
Brazilian midfielder Anderson.
Vintage finish: Michael Owen tucks away his first of
the game in trademark style to make it 3-1
Michael Owen's double strike took him to a total of 199 goals in
English football.
Liverpool 158
(118 League, 8 FA Cup, 9 League Cup, 21 Europe, 2 others)
Newcastle United 30
(26 League, 1 FA Cup, 3 League Cup)
Manchester United 11
(3 League, 4 League Cup, 4 Europe)
Owen was to score
again in the 71st minute as he reacted first after Murphy could
only parry Park's low shot but there was to be a closing moment of
happiness for the home team as their most impressive player,
Woolford, stuck out a leg to give Scunthorpe a second goal in added
time.
United assistant manager
Phelan was asked if Ferguson had shown Scunthorpe a lack of respect
by choosing to stay away.
'Why would anyone suggest
that?' he replied.
'We have a big Champions
League game next week. It was the right decision.'
For all kinds of reasons, it
was hard to disagree.
SCUNTHORPE UNITED
(4-4-2): Murphy 5; Byrne 7, Mirfin 6, Canavan 6, Nolan 6;
Wright 7, O’Connor 7 (Grant 6, 61min),
Togwell 7 (Collins 70, 6), Woolford 8; Forte 6, Dagnall 6 (Godden
81).
Subs not used: Slocombe,
Wright, Jones, Raynes.
MANCHESTER UNITED
(4-4-2): Kuszczak 6; Brown 6, Ferdinand 5, Smalling 6, Rafael Da
Silva 6; Hernandez 5 (Obertan 69, 6), Gibson 8, Anderson 6, Park 7
(Bebe 74, 6); Owen 5, Macheda 5. Subs not used: Van der Sar, O’Shea, De
Laet, Evans, Eikrem.
Man of the match: Darron
Gibson.
Referee: Mike Dean.