Exeter Force FA Cup Replay

Manchester United 0

Exeter City 0

The magic of the FA Cup showed once more as Nationwide Conference side Exeter City have produced one of the best cup results in history, holding current cup holders Manchester United to a goalless draw at Old Trafford in the 3rd round.

A depleted and relatively young Red Devils side, in all fairness, didn't deserve to go straight though to the next stage and the Gracians defended well to keep United at bay.

67,511, around the average Premiership attendance and Champions League crowd, packed into Old Trafford to witnessed what was meant to be a total swipe-wash of Exeter, but defied the odds to force a tie at St James park.

This result means United have now gone two consecutive games with goalless draws.

Sir Alex Ferguson handed a starting debut to young midfielder David Jones and was supported in the middle of the park by Chris Eagles, Eric Djemba-Djemba, Liam Miller and Kieran Richardson. Defender Gerard Pique, a summer signing from Barcelona, was brought into defence along with Phil Neville, Wes Brown and Jon Spector. David Bellion lead the attack upfront with Tim Howard playing in-between the sticks.

Ferguson however had re-enforcements on the bench in the form of Cristiano Ronaldo, Paul Scholes, Alan Smith and Gabriel Heinze.

The first half was pretty even and low-key with both sides enjoying good spells of possession of the ball and the action started to happen mostly in the second half.

Exeter's former United youngster Andy Taylor did call Tim Howard into action however with a decent free-kick that clashed with the side-netting. David Bellion also struck a free-kick, but was well saved by young goalkeeper Paul Jones.

Dean Moxey nearly got the better of a goalmouth scramble soon after but the end result trickled wide.

After the interval, David Jones was denied a starting-debut goal as the midfielder's shot was shunted off the line by Scott Hiley. Goalkeeper Jones was tested moments after, saving Wes Brown's headed effort.

Sir Alex Ferguson knew he needed to bolster his attack and did so after the hour mark by replacing Chris Eagles and Liam Miller with Paul Scholes and Cristiano Ronaldo. Alan Smith was chucked on soon after as the last roll of the dice.

With just second left until Exeter confirmed their historic draw, Paul Scholes had to chance to win it there and then. The substitute's shot was blazed wide deep into injury time.

Much to the despair of the majority of Old Trafford, referee Phil Dowd called an end to proceedings and booked a replay at Exeter's St James Park in a few weeks time.

Final Score: Manchester United 0 - 0 Exeter City
Att: 67,511

Manchester United: Howard, Phil Neville, Brown, Pique, Spector, Eagles, Djemba-Djemba, Jones, Miller, Bellion, Richardson. Subs: Heinze, Ronaldo, Smith, Scholes, Ricardo.

Exeter City: Jones, Hiley, Sawyer, Gaia, Jeannin, Martin, Clay, Taylor, Moxey, Devine, Flack. Subs: Rice, Ampadu, Sheldon, Afful, Edwards.

Refereed By: P Dowd

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