Football story by Brian Watters, Mon, 09 Jan 2006 19:04:00 GMT


LONDON - Minnows Burton Albion held the mighty Manchester United to a goalless draw in the FA Cup third round and have earned the right to replay the match on January 18 at Old Trafford.

Burton, a club from the Nationwide Conference held firm as they were egged on by their passionate supporters to deny Manchester United. The team stands to gain around £500,000 in the return leg replay. This amount is sure to help them build the club as Burton chairman, Ben Robinson admitted after the game.

The pitch for the game was heavy and United might be excused on this count, but Burton were clearly the better team in the first half. A lot of big names were on the bench for United, but Fergie was forced to introduce Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo after the break. Even their presence did not do any good for United and as the final whistle blew there were wild celebrations in the Burton camp and drooping shoulders in the United camp.

Burton boss Nigel Clough was thrilled for the lads as he called them, "Manchester United in a replay is absolutely superb for everybody. The first half was pretty even, but in the second half we were under the cosh," he said. "In the second half they got pretty close to it and seeing Wayne Rooney and Ronaldo coming off the bench does get you worried."

Sir Alex Ferguson put on a brave face to the draw and said that Conference teams were improving, which was great for football, "The Conference clubs have made the FA Cup this year with Tamworth and Nuneaton. They have done the FA Cup proud. Burton showed a lot of commitment and they gave us a good game. If we had taken our chances it wouldn't have been like that," he said.

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