Date:
Venue:
Competition: League Cup Fourth Round.
Score:
Scorers:
Attendance: 26,006.
Teams:
Referee: Mr K. Cooper (Pontypridd)
Brian Deane knocked in his third goal in four games to put United on the road to victory against the EPL champions and at the same time he gave the perfect answer to those who saw him taking a back-seat once United were at full-strength and Swedish star Tomas Brolin had settled in. Deane struck with a delightful left foot shot from an acute angle, when David Wetherall headed back a Gary Kelly cross after twenty-two minutes and it was no more than the attack-minded United deserved.
A Gary Kelly own goal after
fifty minutes gave Rovers hope, but United were worthy winners. Rovers were two
down after twenty-nine minutes when Tony Yeboah
scored with one of his powerhouse specials from twenty-five yards. Mike Newell
had given him a sloppy and misdirected pass and Yeboah
quickly whizzed the ball into the back of the net leaving Tim Flowers in the
There was a brilliant run
on debut for Swedish international after coming through a substitute appearance
at Newcastle the previous Saturday and it said much for his display on this
night that when he came off after eighty minutes he did so to generous applause
from the crowd who appreciated his ‘Man-of-the-Match’ performance even though
obviously still not fully fit.
United played some admirable
attacking football and saw David Wetherall and
Carlton Palmer, in place of the cup-tied Richard Jobson, firmly in control of
the much vaunted Rovers attack of Alan Shearer, Mike Newell and later Chris
Sutton. Shearer was unable to add to his goal record of eight goals in his last
six matches against United. Gary Kelly did his best to undermine the defensive
control and confidence as he inexplicably dived to head into the net past
keeper John Lukic when attempting to clear a Stuart
Ripley cross. Although Rovers spent a lot of the second half on the attack,
they couldn’t breach the United defence
again and John Lukic made a stunning save from a
bullet header from Colin Hendry from Stuart Ripley’s seventy-fifth minute
corner.
Match Action:
Players:
Brian
Deane and Tony Yeboah scored the
Tomas Brolin gave a
man of the John Lukic produced a stunning save Richard Jobson did not play
as he was Cup-tied
match performance
Tim Flowers was in goal Jeff Kenna and Graeme Le Saux were the
full-backs
Henning Berg and Colin Hendry were the central defenders Paul Warhurst and Chris Sutton were the substitutes
Stuart Ripley, ex-Leeds hero David Batty, Tim Sherwood and Billy
McKinley started in midfield
Alan Shearer and Mike Newell were the starting Rovers’ strikers