Up for it, because it’s Worth it

HOW to improve on perfection — that is the task facing Alex Ferguson when he sends his Manchester United side out to face Blackburn at Old Trafford tonight.

Ferguson has emerged triumphant from all his eight previous domestic semi-finals and is looking to enhance that record when his team take on Rovers in the first leg of a Worthington Cup last-four clash with a Millennium Stadium place the prize.

Although the competition has often been treated as a second-rate tournament by United in recent seasons, they have appeared in three finals during Ferguson's reign, capturing the trophy for the only time in the club's history when Brian McClair's goal defeated Nottingham Forest at Wembley in 1992.