Manchester Utd 3 Wolves 2:THIS WAS ultimately a satisfying night for Manchester United, who will go into the fifth round courtesy of another demonstration of Javier Hernandez's ability inside the penalty area, although it was a bittersweet occasion when put into the context of 30,000 empty seats at Old Trafford.
The attendance of 46,083 was the second lowest here since the turn of the century and will inevitably prompt debate about the scale of disillusionment against the club’s owners and unforgiving ticket prices.
Hernandez, however, continues to enthral the Old Trafford crowd, scoring the winner here eight minutes after coming on as an 81st-minute substitute.
The Mexican’s finish was expertly taken, sparing his team extra-time after twice losing the lead in the second-half, Bebe and Park Ji-Sung scoring for the home side and George Elokobi and Kevin Foley replying for Wolves.
Ferguson admitted the striker has settled in very quickly following what is now looking like a bargain €8 million move from Guadalajara.
“They tend to build heroes quickly here but he’s justifying the praise at the moment,” he said. He’s very professional, the first out on the training ground and the last one back in every day and he’s rightly getting a lot of praise for his goalscoring.
“When he gets a chance you know he’s going to take it. His touch, control of the ball and vision are improving and that’s because the training is intense — we care about it and making sure the players do improve.”
If Hernandez took his chance yet again, few others in in an experimental United line-up – Ferguson changed his entire starting XI from Sunday’s win at Stoke City – demonstrated they deserve to be in the team on a more regular basis.
Ferguson is entitled to have concerns about how Michael Carrick has regressed, while this was the fifth anniversary of Darron Gibson’s debut but the Republic of Ireland midfielder is yet to convince.
Gabriel Obertan’s €5 million signing from Bordeaux continues to look a poor piece of business and, while Federico Macheda can always fall back upon his age, his progress appears to have stalled.
It made this a good opportunity for Wolves and it was perplexing that Mick McCarthy’s team did not show a greater sense of ambition to test Ben Amos, usually United’s third-choice goalkeeper.
There are not many occasions when United are such generous opponents, particularly on their own ground, and yet the 20-year-old Amos was barely tested during a first half with scarcely any meaningful action insider either penalty area.
Bebe did at least try to make something happen, eager to impress on his first start, even if there were also times when he looked a little clumsy on the ball.
His willingness to run with the ball was a feature of the evening, although he was also indebted to a huge slice of fortune for the opening goal, his right-wing cross deflecting off Elokobi and looping over the goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey.
Republic of Ireland defender Foley headed the ball away from beneath the crossbar but the officials made the correct decision to decide it had crossed the line.
Belatedly, Wolves emerged as an attacking force. The equaliser came from a Dave Jones corner, with Amos a little hesitant as Elokobi rose from six yards to score with a header.
Park’s left-foot shot gave United the lead again but Sylvan Ebanks-Blake and Steven Fletcher then combined for Foley to beat Amos again. Ferguson responded by bringing on Hernandez and the Mexican won the match with its most stylish contribution.
Guardian Service
MANCHESTER UNITED: Amos, Brown, Smalling, Evans, Fabio Da Silva (Neville, 74 mins) , Obertan, Carrick, Gibson, Park (Morrison, 90 mins), Macheda, Bebe (Hernandez, 81 mins). Subs not used: Kuszczak, Rafael Da Silva, Brady, Eikrem. Booked: Gibson.
WOLVES: Hennessey, Foley, Mouyokolo, Berra, Elokobi, Hunt, Mancienne, David Jones, Jarvis (Doyle, 85 mins), Ebanks-Blake (Bent, 80 mins), Fletcher. Subs not used: Hahnemann, Van Damme, Edwards, Stearman, Milijas.
Referee: Michael Jones (Cheshire).
