Despite the build up to this FA Cup derby, there really wasn't much violence or controversy until Gary Neville's 38th minute sending off. In a bizarre act for Neville, the United right back headbutted Steve Macmanaman after he felt the City winger had taken him down in the area. That Neville deserved the sending off, there can be no doubt. His grounds for a penalty were poor and his overreaction to Macmanaman was a textbook red card. I can only guess that years worth of eneminty between members of England's national squad must have played large part in the flareup. Certainly, we now know why the likes of Robbie Fowler and Steve Macmanaman are never picked in Sven-Goran Erikson's England squads--"unsettling influences" indeed. Derby violence aside, it was a game that United had under solid control going into halftime. On the 34th minute, Midfielder Paul Scholes popped into the six-yard box to poach yet another goal in his 400th game for the Red Devils. With Louis Saha cup-tied, Sir Alex fielded a 4-5-1 that absorbed much of Man City's attack through a packed midfield. Combined with an excellent save by Tim Howard before the break, United's performance did not betray the club's recent defensive frailties. In fact, despite being a man down and having recently let in numerous premiership goals from dead ball situations, it was a United corner that was kept alive and finished by Ruud Van Nistlerooy that began to put the game out of City's reach in the second half. Manchester United then harried City's defence all the way back to their goalmouth and scored two more goals from close-range nudges by Cristiano Ronaldo and Van Nistlerooy again. With the blue half of Manchester beaten into submission, normal service has resumed and Manchester United look fit to make a run for the 2004 edition of the FA Cup. h3. Man of the Match: Tim Howard With point-blank saves against Shaun Wright Phillips, Joey barton and Steve Macmanaman, Tim Howard kept the momentum from slipping into City's hands during the second half. Michael Tarnat did manage to roof a shot into Howard's goal on the 78th minute, but Howard never had a chance. Preoccupied with setting up the wall, he was obviously at fault for Fowler's 85th minute quick free-kick. But it was little more than a garbage goal when the match had already been decided well before. The American goalkeeper's abilities to play error free and consistently steal saves are the reasons why a reduced United outfield never played from behind through the entire match.