Saha provides the only highlight

Manchester United 2 Crystal Palace 0

The £12.8 million French forward, who labelled his last-minute miss against Manchester City on Sunday “a disgrace” provided the one moment of inspiration on an otherwise instantly forgettable night at Old Trafford as the Red Devils eased into the Carling Cup quarter-finals.

Saha watched intently as Quinton Fortune’s angled ball dropped towards the far edge of the six-yard box. The former Fulham man took it down on his chest with a sublime piece of control that took two Palace defenders out of the game. Then, he deftly rolled the ball forward and smashed a near post shot into the net.

It was his first goal of the campaign but, with more match practice behind him there will surely be more to come and Ferguson must be tempted to unite Saha with Ruud van Nistelrooy at Newcastle on Sunday as United chase the victory so essential to revive their flagging title hopes.

Kieran Richardson is unlikely to be involved at St James’ Park, but the 20-year-old proved he is developing in the right manner, capping a fine left-wing display with a goal that owed much to an error from Julian Speroni.

Ferguson’s policy of using the League Cup as a breeding ground for young talent or to give some of his fringe players a run-out is well established so to see a United line-up showing 10 changes from the side that started against City was not a surprise.

Saha opened the scoring soon after 21 minutes with a goal totally not in keeping with the rest of what passed for entertainment.

Having created a goal, Fortune, making only his second appearance since mid-August after a recovering from a calf problem, then saved one, standing his ground at the far post to nod away a Shaun Derry corner.

It proved to be a timely intervention as United immediately launched the counter raid which ended with Richardson doubling their lead.

MAN UTD: Howard, Phil Neville, Brown, O’Shea, Fortune, Kleberson (Spector 79), Fletcher, Djemba-Djemba, Richardson (Eagles 79), Bellion (Rossi 86), Saha.

CRYSTAL PALACE: Speroni, Butterfield (Shipperley 77), Hudson, Powell, Borrowdale, Leigertwood, Soares, Danze (Lakis 45), Derry, Torghelle (Kaviedes 69), Freedman.

Ref: S Dunn.