Manchester United in League Cup semis

December 02, 2009 01:59 pm | Updated 01:59 pm IST - LONDON

Darron Gibson

Darron Gibson

Defending champion Manchester United advanced to the League Cup semifinals by beating Tottenham 2-0, while Aston Villa won 4-2 over Portsmouth.

Man United midfielder Darron Gibson struck twice in the first half in a rematch of last season’s final that was won by United in a penalty shootout.

“It was a good team performance following last week. We bounced back and the young lads did well,” Gibson said. “We didn’t go out to try and prove anything. Sometimes you have bad days and today was a good day.”

Anderson was the creator of the 17th-minute opening goal, surging forward before cutting inside to lay the ball into the path of Gibson, whose low shot crept into the corner of the net.

The second came at the end of a flowing move started by Park Ji-sung and continued by Dimitar Berbatov, who picked out Danny Welbeck and played a one-two with Gibson. The Northern Ireland midfielder struck high into the net from the edge of the area.

“The movement and working off the ball was good - and a terrific finish,” United manager Alex Ferguson said. “Gibson and Anderson did very well in the middle of the park. We’re two games away from Wembley, that’s good. We’ll enjoy the semifinal and these lads will play again.”

At Fratton Park, Portsmouth took the lead in the 10th when Villa’s Stiliyan Petrov sliced a corner into his own net, but the visitors replied immediately through Emile Heskey.

England winger James Milner struck in the 27th and Stewart Downing added a third goal on his first Villa start in the 74th.

Kanu gave Villa a late scare by pulling one back, but Ashley Young made sure of victory with a fourth goal to send Martin O’Neill’s side through.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.