NEWS
OTHER SPORTS
DIARY
PEOPLE
MATCH REPORTS
SLIDE SHOW
ARCHIVES

Manchester United win FA Cup, stay on course for unique treble

Dhritiman Hui

The red devils took one more step towards making Alex Fergusson the proudest manager on this planet .

On Saturday, Manchester United grabbed their pot of gold at the end of their road to Wembley, beating Newcastle United 2-0, and then stayed on field for a good hour after the match, joking around with the sort of boyish glee that you simply don't associate with English football.

Newcastle played their cursed role in this picture of happiness to absolute perfection. They came, took the odd, wild shot through the United defence, looked completely perplexed by Man U's on-field genius personified by Teddy Sheringham's speed and presence of mind, and David Beckham's unexpected brilliance in midfield, as they went down rather meekly.

With Roy Keane off the field in the eighth minute, Sheringham found himself, as is his wont, in the right place at the right time, threading a perfect 1-2 with Paul Scholes, and then burying the ball through Newcastle's young keeper, Steve Harper to put United one up.
Newcastle's manager Ruud Gullit's decision to use Nikos Dabizas and Laurent Charvet in the defence came under sharp focus again in the 53rd minute, as Dabizas attempted a blind clearance at the back, which was smartly intercepted by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who fed an open Sheringham, who in turn pushed the ball to Scholes' feet. The last-named, left unmarked again by Dabizas, had little difficulty in finding the space to essay a shot to the back of the net.

Newcastle looked desperately short on inspiration, and Fergusson's sudden mid-match reorganisation seemed to throw them in even greater disarray. Their best moment came when Temuri Ketsbaia set up Dietmarr Hamann for a super 20 yard shot, which was saved splendidly by Danish keeper, Peter Schmeicel under the bar.

For most of the match, a frail Newcastle midfield failed to get past the United stoppers and find Alan Shearer, who was probably their best bet to pull a goal back for them.

Fergusson and his lot are now aboard the Concorde, flying to Barcelona for the UEFA Champions' Cup final against German champions Bayern Munich, to get their piece of heaven and complete the treble they have craved the whole year.
With Jaap Stam fit and raring to go for the United defence, and Sheringham distinguishing himself up the right flank, Fergusson can now play David Beckham in his new found role as the fulcrum, an assignment the blonde midfielder seemed to handle with elan on Saturday evening.

"And now you're going to believe us, we're going to win the cup," sang the red hordes. That was after Keane had lifted the FA's old jug. But you knew what they meant.