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Tuesday, 28 November, 2000, 23:55 GMT
Yorke off as Man Utd crash
Sunderland 2-1 Manchester United (aet)
Dwight Yorke was sent off for a bone-crunching tackle on Sunderland's Emerson Thome as Manchester United's second-string side were sent crashing out of the Worthington Cup.
Sunderland came from behind to win in extra-time at the Stadium of Light and book a place in round five.
A Kevin Phillips penalty in the 10th minute of extra-time was the decisive strike after Yorke's opener had been cancelled out by Julio Arca.
The game proved to be a tale of two penalty decisions and United will feel aggrieved that they were not awarded a spot-kick shortly after Sunderland levelled.
Their frustration was compounded when Yorke was sent-off eight minutes from the end of normal time and Phillips twisted the knife as he ended his goal drought of seven games.
The game began after a minute's silence following the death of Sunderland favourite Len Shackleton at the age of 78.
United fielded six players aged 23 or under in amongst more established stars against a strong Sunderland side.
But it was hard to tell that it was an unfamiliar United line-up without David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Roy Keane and Teddy Sheringham as the visitors more than held their own in the first-half.
United comfortably held Sunderland at arms length with the home side failing to stamp their authority on the game.
Manager Peter Reid's side were limited to two speculative long range efforts from midfielder Alex Rae in between Yorke mis-kicking from a good chance for United at the other end.
Sunderland did threaten when Daniel Dichio headed narrowly over from a Rae corner after 22 minutes before the home side were stunned by United's opener.
In a sweeping counter-attacking move typical of United, the visitors seemed to be on the defensive before Quinton Fortune received the ball in midfield.
He played the ball quickly through to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer who then found Yorke.
He had the ball taken off him by defender Jody Craddock when shaping to shoot only for United's Jonathan Greening to gather the loose ball.
He eased the ball into Yorke's path and this time the striker made no mistake as he shot fiercely into the roof of the net.
Greening was then narrowly wide with a 20-yard effort before the visitor's 19-year-old defender John O'Shea produced a timely tackle on Phillips to deny the striker a shooting opportunity
Phillips saw a 20-yard left-foot curler come off the bar after 43 minutes and, two minutes after the interval, had a well-struck angled shot saved by United goalkeeper Raimond Van der Gouw.
It was Arca who rescued Sunderland with an equaliser after 74 minutes.
Phillips was the provider with a corner which Arca stooped to head and, even though Van der Gouw managed to get a touch to the ball, he could not stop it from flying in.
United will feel hard done by that they did not have at least a chance to restore their lead four minutes later when Greening was felled by Sorensen in the penalty area.
The offence took place at an acute angle to the goal but United's frustration at not being awarded the spot-kick was clear.
To make matters worse for the visitors, Yorke was red-carded for a bad tackle on Sunderland's Brazilian defender Thome.
Phillips was denied with two late shots and extra-time was needed to settle the tie.
Phillips duly did so when he picked himself up after winning a penalty conceded by O'Shea and beat Van der Gouw from the spot.
United played commendably with 10-men and twice struck the Sunderland crossbar through Danny Webber and David Healy but the home side held on.
Sunderland: Sorensen, Makin, Gray, Thome, Craddock, Williams, Arca, Rae, Hutchison, Dichio, Phillips. Subs: Macho, Varga, Schwarz, McCann, Quinn.
Man Utd: Van Der Gouw, Clegg, P. Neville, Johnsen, O'Shea, Wallwork, Greening, Fortune, Chadwick, Yorke, Solskjaer. Subs: Rachubka, Healy, Stewart, Djordjc, Weber.
Referee: M Halsey (Welwyn Garden City)
28 Nov 00 | Football
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