Fans stand by their man in United stroll

Northampton 0 Manchester United 3

While Mikael Silvestre’s first-half strike, a Chris Hargreaves own goal after the interval and a close-range Diego Forlan effort ensured the visitors were never in danger of suffering the biggest shock in the competition’s history, the United fans were eager to show which side of the fence they sit on in the ongoing dispute between their manager and major shareholder John Magnier which again erupted in the media yesterday.

Aside from delivering a four-letter tirade towards the Irish racehorse owner, they declared their devotion to Ferguson from the terraces in no uncertain manner.

While it will not be of much help to Ferguson should the dispute end in the almost previously unthinkable prospect of him ending his 17-year stint with United, the Scot will no doubt hope he receives the same kind of backing from the club’s board.

Meanwhile, he will continue plotting the path to more silverware, although he will hope not to come across as many inspired performances as that which Lee Harper produced at Sixfields yesterday.

Suspension robbed the visitors of Rio Ferdinand and Phil Neville, injuries meant neither Ryan Giggs nor Gary Neville were in the United squad, Roy Keane and Tim Howard were left on the bench while top scorer Ruud Van Nistelrooy did not even make the trip.

With Louis Saha cup-tied it meant that Ferguson fielded a fledgling side, skippered by Nicky Butt, who could yet complete a move to Birmingham before the transfer deadline closes next weekend.

Northampton, beaten so comprehensively on the Red Devils’ last visit in 1970, were hoping to make a solid start but even they could not have imagined the boost they would receive after just three minutes.

Ronaldo’s terrorising of the Cobblers’ defence started early as he panicked Greg Lincoln into manhandling him as he attempted to reach a Quinton Fortune cross but Forlan, needing to impress following Saha’s arrival, saw his penalty saved by Harper’s full-length save.

Northampton’s attacking forays were sporadic, but United’s opener was a scrappy affair. Ronaldo provided the dangerous cross which home skipper Paul Reid attempted to reach at full stretch. Reid could only turn the ball towards Harper, who at such close range was unable to prevent the ball rolling towards Silvestre who tapped home.

United were two in front within two minutes of the re-start with Hargreaves turning Ronaldo’s corner into his own net after it had bounced off Bellion.

The United fans had taken to singing ‘We will only sit down when Diego scores’, although whether that was a show of support for the errant striker is doubtful.

Still, they celebrated the South American’s goal with glee when he eventually tapped home Darren Fletcher’s nod back midway through the second period.

Ferguson continued his stance of failing to speak to the mass media after games and was not discussing the matter on United’s own television station.

“I was pleased with the performance,” Ferguson told MUTV. “I watched Chelsea’s game at Scarborough yesterday and I thought ‘I can’t go through that’.

“In FA Cup games like that there is always a chance that you may end up scrambling through.

“We didn’t scramble today, we won comfortably.”

NORTHAMPTON: Harper, Reid, Sampson, Willmott, Carruthers (Chambers 51), Lyttle, Hargreaves, Lincol (Harsley 72), Smith, Asamoah, Reeves (Richards 45).

MAN UTD: Carroll, O’Shea, Brown, Silvestre (Bardsley 72), Fortune (Pugh 89), Bellion, Fletcher, Butt, Scholes (Richardson 72), Ronaldo, Forlan.

Referee: S. Bennett.