United ease past Northampton

Northampton 0 Manchester United 3

Manchester United took their expected place in the last 16 of the FA Cup with a 3-0 defeat of Third Division Northampton at Sixfields this afternoon.

While the home side could hardly claim the margin of victory flattered United, it did scant justice to their efforts, particularly those of goalkeeper Lee Harper who denied the visitors on half a dozen occasions.

Mikael Silvestre opened the scoring for United before the interval after Diego Forlan had missed a third minute penalty.

Then a second-half own goal from Chris Hargreaves extended United’s lead, before Forlan eventually found the target to wrap up victory.