ANDY COLE returned to the North East of England to grab a sensational last-gasp winner for Manchester United last night and hand Sunderland FA Cup heartbreak.
Alex Ferguson's season of cup disasters looked like being extended as Phil Gray's eighth goal of the campaign gave Peter Reid's men an interval advantage that was no more than they deserved.
But substitute Paul Scholes came off the bench to fire United back on terms 20 minutes from time, eight minutes after replacing Nicky Butt.
Even then, with United pushing forward with increasing confidence, the home side looked as if they would at least earn themselves an extra half-hour.
However, with only 33 seconds left on the clock Cole, returning to the region for the first time since his £7 million move from Newcastle 12 months ago, struck. Substitute Lee Sharpe floated over a cross from the left, Cole pulled off his marker and then steered a header back across Alec Chamberlain and into the corner of the net.
It was the striker's eighth of the season, and it was greeted with United joy as he was submerged under a crowd of team-mates. It earned the visitors a fourth round trip to Reading, but the end of the road for Sunderland.
Ferguson had sprung a surprise by omitting Sharpe and including Paul Parker as a fifth defender and while Phil Gray did have an early header too high, it was a switch, that appeared to be working.
Denis Irwin and Philip Neville were pushing up on wingers Michael Gray and Martin Smith and Phil Gray and Craig Russell were tailing to find the room they had at Old Trafford.
Even so, the 24th-minute goal was somewhat unexpected. An attack looked to have fizzled out with Steve Bruce's clearing header, but the ball landed at the feet of Smith. A quick pass found Steve Agnew on the edge of the box, a flick transferred the ball on to Phil Gray, and as Peter Schmeichel raced off his line the Ulsterman poked it between the Dane's legs.
When Sharpe came on for Parker United reverted to an orthodox back four and with the deep-drifting Cantona pulling the strings, the move began to work almost immediately. Cole had failed to pick out the unmarked Cantona and Alec Chamberlain plucked the ball off Sharpe's feet before Scholes entered the fray in the 62nd minute.
But the equaliser duly arrived in the 70th minute, Scholes let fly from 25 yards.
Sunderland were fully stretched as United pressed to finish the game in normal time and Cole was twice crowded out when well-placed. A minute from time, Martin Scott's brilliant block denied Cole and looked to have earned extra-time. But Cole had other ideas and headed in the winner just before the final whistle.
