Man United 0-1 Portsmouth

Mar 9 2008 Scott Mcdermott At Old Trafford

Redknapp Joy As He Trumps Sir Alex Again

HARRY REDKNAPP last night hailed his Pompey heroes' will to win after they mugged 10-man United and crushed their treble dream.

Sulley Muntari's 78th-minute penalty sealed Pompey's first victory at Old Trafford in 51 years and earned them an FA Cup semi-final date.

It was a devastating loss for United's superstars who fancied emulating the class of 1999 with a league title, Cup and Champions League treble.

But Redknapp can now look forward to his first trip to Wembley as a gaffer after repeating the FA Cup result his West Ham side pulled off against Alex Ferguson's men in 2001.

Redknapp - who also tasted cup success against the Reds with Bournemouth in 1984 - said: "It's a great day for us and the fans.

"I'm delighted for them. This result means 10 times more to our supporters than it would do to United's.

"I was hoping Sir Alex would rest a few like Wayne Rooney or Ronaldo.

"But they were all there and we showed great character to beat them. We came here a few weeks ago and got slaughtered - we could have lost 10-0.

"That's a few times I've got a result against them in the FA Cup but I don't have a secret formula. We'll look forward to Wembley and hopefully we can make the final."

Pompey rode their luck as United missed chances and were denied a clear first-half penalty when Cristiano Ronaldo was barged by Sylvain Distin.

But they were also stubborn in defence and when United sub keeper Tomasz Kuszczak was sent off for tripping Milan Baros in the box Muntari stroked past stand-in goalie Rio Ferdinand to end Pompey's run of seven straight defeats at the Theatre of Dreams.

Redknapp shrugged off the controversy over the Ronaldo incident.

He said: "I don't think it was a penalty. Distin is so strong and they have just bounced off each other. That ref would have given them a penalty if he had a chance, I've got no doubts.

"Ours was a definite penalty. I used to watch Rio in goal as a kid at West Ham and he wasn't very good so I knew if Muntari hit it anywhere near goal it would have gone in."

United dominated and it was breathtaking stuff at times. Ronaldo was the tormentor-in-chief and should have won a penalty in seven minutes.

The winger glided past Herman Hreidarsson as if he wasn't there and got to the ball first before Distin body-checked him right in front of ref Martin Atkinson.

To everyone's amazement, the whistler waved play on. Ferguson was fuming and berated the official and his stand-side assistant.

United almost broke the deadlock in 19 minutes.

Carlos Tevez and Rooney led a quick counter-attack before the little Argentine put his strike partner clean through on David James.

Rooney side-stepped the keeper before Sol Campbell's last-ditch tackle and the ball fell to Tevez.

But his shot was hit straight at Glen Johnson on the line.

Kuszczak replaced the injured Edwin van der Sar in goal at halftime but it was still James at the other end who was kept busier.

Nani's fierce drive forced him to save before United's best chance in 70 minutes. Ronaldo picked out sub Michael Carrick with a back-heel and the midfielder went round James.

Just when it looked like he was about to tap home Distin got back to make a fantastic tackle.

Then came the pivotal moment. As the Reds pressed for a winner Pompey broke with Nico Kranjcar. He found Baros who went round Kuszczak and was hauled down.

It was a stonewaller and the Pole saw red as skipper Ferdinand went between the sticks. His first job was to pick the ball out the net as Muntari buried the penalty.

Ronaldo tried his luck late on with a free-kick that dipped just under James' bar - but it wasn't to be for the champions.