Utd Kids Wife

Darren Gibson produced a match-winning performance and salvaged some youth-players pride by scoring twice to send the current Cup holders into the Carling Cup semi-final at the expense of Tottenham in a 2-0 victory.

Sir Alex Ferguson as expected shuffled his pack for the tie with Berbatov starting upfront against his former team with Owen dropping back onto the bench.

After the youngsters’ disappointing performances against Besiktas in the Champions League the previous week Sir Alex Ferguson would have been pleased with their workrate and their response to the media criticism.

United took the lead just after the quarter of an hour mark when Anderson won possession on the left wing before laying it into the path of Gibson who hit a low clinical shot into the corner past a diving Heurelho Gomes.

For Spurs Bentley and Defoe were both denied goals by Tomasz Kuszczak who was again picked ahead of Ben Foster in the United goal. It was after the Tottenham attempts that United got the all-important second goal. Gibson again was involved, initially exchanging passes with Danny Welbeck before placing a superbly placed shot in the upper right hand corner of Gomes’ goal. If Berbatov had been more decisive in front of the goal the lead could have been extended further after he was set up by the ever-improving Obertan.

Sir Alex Ferguson for one was a happy man.

“We were a bit fortunate in the first half, we scored against the run of play,” he told Sky Sports.

“Spurs dominated the first 30 minutes of the match. We couldn’t get the game going until we scored.

“In the second half we were much, much better.”

Ferguson is currently serving a touchline ban but insisted the club has not been hindered by the ruling.

He added: “We all play a part at this club, it’s no one-man show, there’s continuity about Manchester United which is always important.

“We’re two games from Wembley. We’ll enjoy the semi-final and these lads will play again.”

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