Manchester United and Blackburn in Quarters of English FA Cup

Manchester United scored three times in the first six minutes to reach the English FA cup quarterfinals with a 3-2 win over Reading. Gabriel Heinze, Louis Saha and Ole Gunnar Solksjaer scored the goals for Manchester United in the fifth round replay at the Madejski Stadium yesterday.

Reading missed the chance to push the game into extra time when Brynjar Gunnarsson hit the crossbar in injury time. United will now play Middlesbrough, who beat 10-man League Championship club West Bromwich Albion 5-4 on penalty kicks in its fifth-round replay.

"We kept giving them lifeline after lifeline, and when they scored a second with six or seven minutes to go anything could have happened. In the end, we managed to ride our luck and we have come through a magnificent cup tie." Alex Ferguson, Manchester United Manager said.

In another match Benni McCarthy scored with four minutes remaining to give Blackburn a 1-0 victory over Arsenal on Wednesday night and a berth in the FA Cup quarterfinals. The South African forward entered in the 60th minute of the fifth-round replay, raced down the left and cut inside defender Philippe Senderos before an angled 25-yard shot high inside the far post.