Boro pay the penalty

12 April 2012

A late penalty from Cristiano Ronaldo ensured Manchester United's treble dream survived an FA Cup rollercoaster at the Riverside.

In front and in control following Wayne Rooney's clinical strike midway through the first half, United found themselves behind to a durable Middlesbrough as Lee Cattermole and George Boateng found the net either side of the interval.

But, just as on their last visit to Teesside, Sir Alex Ferguson's men were in receipt of a debatable penalty decision as referee Rob Styles ruled Boateng had handled Rio Ferdinand's flick-on, allowing Ronaldo to drill home his 17th goal of the campaign and earn an Old Trafford replay on Monday week.

Still technically on loan from West Brom, reserve goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak was given an unexpected chance when Edwin van der Sar limped out of the warm up with a calf injury. And, for a long time after that, Kuszczak was a mere spectator as United assumed total control.

The impressive Ryan Giggs was heavily involved in the move which saw the visitors seize the initiative, calmly feeding Rooney, who belted his 13th goal of the season into the corner of Mark Schwarzer's net.

Middlesbrough were not totally out of it, and Kuszczak needed to make another excellent save to deny Aiyegbeni Yakubu, who rolled Rio Ferdinand and let fly with a volley which the goalkeeper pushed out with a firm arm.

Giggs was agonisingly close to finishing off a sublime chip from Gary Neville with a volley that bounced away off the post and it took a close-range Jonathan Woodgate block to deny the Welshman. But the whole game was turned on its head in two minutes either side of the half-time interval.

First Cattermole controlled with his chest before smashing home a volley on the turn after Kuszczak had failed to reach a Downing cross nodded back into the danger zone by Arca.

Then Boateng was left completely on his own to attack a Stewart Downing corner, the Dutchman getting enough force into his header to prevent Giggs being able to hook it off the line.

The Teessiders had already survived a couple of hairy moments when Ferdinand flicked Giggs' corner straight at Boateng, and Ronaldo earned United another attempt at reaching the last four.

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