ALDERSHOT TOWN 0

MANCHESTER UTD 3

SIR ALEX Ferguson paid Aldershot due respect with the quality of the side he selected for Tuesday's Carling Cup showpiece – the biggest game in the Hampshire club's history.

He must have seen Aldershot as a potential banana skin because, rather than the mainly youth side that many had predicted, he included household names such as Michael Owen, Dimitar Berbatov, Nemanja Vidic, Phil Jones and Ji-Sung Park.

The Shots, predictably, were outclassed, but far from embarrassed, and their prodigiously high work-rate made the Premier League champions earn their quarter-final berth.

For full match report and big-match reaction, see this week's Herald.