Peerless Rooney's cup runneth over

Watford 1

Manchester United 4

Half-time: 1-2

Attendance: 37,425

Referee: Howard Webb (South Yorkshire)

Manchester United do not lose FA Cup semifinals these days, nor do they ever leave Villa Park a beaten side. So they will be at Wembley on 19 May, setting a record by appearing in their 18th final, which was reached in typically cavalier fashion.

Early on, a repeat of last Tuesday's 7-1 demolition of Roma appeared possible, but after Wayne Rooney scored in the seventh minute, potentially dangerous set pieces kept a spirited Watford in the game. The impressive Algerian Hameur Bouazza even brought the underdogs parity briefly and in the second half United's four attacking players tended to leave their midfield outnumbered.

Rooney's second goal relieved much of the pressure on a defence that lost Rio Ferdinand, who will have a scan on a groin strain today. Gary Neville, Nemanja Vidic, Mikael Silvestre and John O'Shea were all missing and further injuries would seriously hamper prospects of winning anything, let alone repeating the Treble of 1999.

If there is one statistic to encourage Chelsea and others, it is that United have kept only one clean sheet in seven games, a fact attributable to constant changing of personnel and the recently uncertain form of Edwin van der Sar in goal, as well as the club's traditional belief that the best form of defence is keeping the ball at the other end of the pitch. That generosity of spirit allowed Watford the equivalent of a puncher's chance, namely the possibility of exploiting the set pieces that would inevitably come their way.

"I asked them to come off the pitch knowing Manchester United had been in a game," Watford's manager, Adrian Boothroyd, said, "and after a slow start we did that. We had them rattled at 2-1, but they were too strong for us and we didn't take our chances in the second half." Overall, however, it was certainly not the humiliation that might have been expected for a team doomed to relegation and facing a side at the top of their game. Sir Alex Ferguson acknowledged the qualities of the opposition saying: "They've got good players who ask questions of you, their delivery into the box is very good but we passed that test. It's been a great week for us."

Watford's outstanding player all season has been the goalkeeper Ben Foster, on loan from United, so it was particularly unfortunate that he was ineligible. Richard Lee, the young deputy and a boyhood United fan, was kept predictably busy, though he must have been as astonished as everyone else in the stadium that there was a Watford goal to celebrate in between the favourites' first-half pair.

Rooney opened the scoring, thunderously, by taking Michael Carrick's pass out on the left and stepping inside the full-back Adrian Mariappa to hit a fierce shot past Lee, who did not seem to have time to set himself. Boothroyd, sitting in the stand, was immediately on the mobile to his coaches in the dug-out, though it was difficult to see what suggestions he could be offering other than a relevant prayer. But midway through the half, Van der Sar hurt his nose in a high challenge, opted to kick clear instead of catching and conceded a throw on the left. It fell for Tommy Smith, whose cross was met by the Bouazza with an inspired overhead kick that flew high into the net.

Alas, only two minutes later defensive fallibility ruined that good work as Rooney, switching to the right, found all the space he needed to take Smith's pass and lay it square for Cristiano Ronaldo to tap in his 21st goal of the season.

For a long period at the start of the second half, Watford gave better than they got. Bouazza was particularly prominent, jabbing wide after a long throw, forcing Van der Sar to touch his cross on to the bar and then racing away from Gabriel Heinze to win a corner. It was therefore against the run of play when United claimed their third goal, Rooney tapping in a cross by Smith after Clarke Carlisle had initially denied him. Harshly for Watford, there was even a fourth before the finish, the substitute Kieran Richardson driving in Smith's pass to conclude Ferguson's eighth successful FA Cup semi- final and the club's 13th in a row since 1970.

MAN OF THE MATCH

Wayne Rooney

Manchester United

Whether out on the left or the right Rooney had the beating of Wat-ford's defence and almost had a hat-trick.

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