A good effort today from Spurs wasn't enough to hold off a brace of goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and one from Carlos Tevez as the Red Devils came from behind to knock Spurs out of the FA Cup at Old Trafford on Sunday.
Spurs looked good early on and took the lead midway through the first on a fine Robbie Keane strike from an excellent Aaron Lennon pass, though some good defense had stopped a Dimitar Berbatov shot on the goal line a few minutes earlier.
Tevez's shot came just before halftime as he pounced on the ball in front of the goal as players from both sides fought for it, and he delivered an angled shot that got cleanly past goalie Radek Cerny.
Man Utd. goalie Edwin Van der Sar then ended the first half by knocking away a shot from Jermaine Jenas, a shot in which Jenas knows he should've have done much better in getting away.
Spurs problems were compounded midway through the second half when Micheal Dawson was shown a straight red on a handball in front of the goal, which afforded Ronaldo the opportunity to put Man Utd. ahead.
While it has been noted that part of the rise of Spurs fortunes of late may be attributable to the replacement of Paul Robinson with Cerny, the latter proved himself as capable as giving up a howler as the former by letting a shot from Ronaldo slipping by him after initially stopping it in the moments before stoppage time, effectively put the game out of reach.
As for the other FA Cup match, Sheffield United got a fluke goal early on, as a bunch of celebratory balloons still on the pitch obscured the view of City defender Michael Ball trying to clear a cross from United's Lee Martin, making him miss the ball completely and allowing Luton Shelton to get the ball home in the 12th minute.
Just as many minutes later, Jonathan Stead doubled the lead by knocking in a shot after City failed to clear the ball in front of their goal.
18 year old City striker Daniel Sturridge tried to get things going early on the second half with a lovely strike, but the visitors failed to mount any serious challenge for the rest of the way, and the Blades found themselves on the way to the next round.
To add to their woes, it was discovered that various City personnel, including players, had a substantial amount of money stolen from the locker room at Bramall Lane whilst the game was in progress, the story for indignity is HERE.
Some City fans may think that the team stole their money after their SHAMBOLIC, GUTLESS performance though.
MAN UTD/SPURS REPORT
UNITED/CITY REPORT
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