United scrape past gallant Grecians

Exeter City 0 Manchester United 2

An eighth-minute Cristiano Ronaldo effort and a Wayne Rooney strike just before the end smoothed United’s passage to a January 29 meeting with Middlesbrough but when the dust settles, the Grecians will have plenty to remember other than the estimated £700,000 earned from their two extraordinary clashes with Sir Alex Ferguson’s men.

Alex Ferguson claimed Exeter’s two monumental FA Cup performances could provide the impetus to get the west country club back into the Football League.

Although the immediate threat of extinction has vanished the Grecians were still operating a hand-to-mouth existence until they landed the dream draw of a trip to Old Trafford.

Ferguson admitted the hosts deserved all the credit.

“These two games have been absolutely fantastic, not just for Exeter but for football as a whole,” he said.

“I was listening to the radio this morning and all the talk was about Exeter City. It is just brilliant for them.”

Exeter boss Alex Inglethorpe declared himself proud of his team after their FA Cup adventure ended: “I’m very proud of the team. After conceding an early goal it would have been easy to fear the worst but we showed we could be solid and kept going, which was important.

Inglethorpe was also full of praise for goalkeeper Paul Jones, who kept United’s strikers at bay for much of the game. He added: “I think his price might have risen tonight - but he’s young and he’s still learning.

Exeter began with understandable enthusiasm but though the dead surface aided their cause more than United’s it was the visitors who quickly got a stranglehold on the contest.

John O’Shea was only inches away from turning Ronaldo’s cross home, although it wasn’t long before the Portuguese teenager gave United the early advantage they craved.

He remains a class act and after picking up possession on the left flank, he darted inside, then continued his run to collect Scholes’ return pass and drive a shot into the far corner with such ease that it begged the question why it was only his second goal of the campaign.

Ronaldo will not remember his next involvement with affection though as Hiley produced some trickery of his own, tapping through the Euro 2004 finalist’s legs to raucous applause from the home fans.

As the contest entered its final stages, Exeter pushed forward knowing they had nothing to lose and Howard was forced into his best save of the match to deny Taylor, whose fiercely hit 25-yard free-kick was heading in.

Devine thought he had equalised when he turned home Jeannin’s mis-hit volley but was clearly offside and as the cavalry charge continued, Rooney and Ronaldo wasted four glorious opportunities between them to seal victory on the counter attack before the teenager from England finally managed it three minutes from time.

EXETER: Jones, Hiley, Sawyer, Gaia, Jeannin, Moxey, Taylor (Martin 89), Ampadu (Afful 69), Clay, Flack (Edwards 74), Devine.

MAN UTD: Howard, Phil Neville, Gary Neville, O’Shea, Fortune, Giggs (Saha 70), Miller (Fletcher 66), Scholes, Djemba-Djemba (Silvestre 80), Ronaldo, Rooney.

Ref: P Dowd

IN the Spanish Cup last night last year’s beaten finalists Real Madrid drew 0-0 at home with Valladolid and went out of the competition on the away goals rule.

King's Cup third round, second leg: Athletic Bilbao 6 Lanzarote 0 (first leg: 1-2; Athletic Bilbao win 7-2 on aggregate)

Getafe 3 Osasuna 2 (first leg: 0-2; Osasuna win 4-3 on aggregate)

Numancia 1 Elche 0 (after extra-time; first leg: 0-1; Numancia win 5-3 on

penalties)

Real Betis 0 Mirandes 0 (first leg: 3-1; Real Betis win 3-1 on aggregate)

Real Madrid 1 Valladolid 1 (first leg: 0-0; Valladolid win on away goals rule).