Manchester United hammered struggling West Ham 6-0 in their FA Cup tie at Old Trafford to book their place in the fifth round. Two goals from Ryan Giggs, two from Ruud van Nistelrooy and one each from Phil Neville and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer condemned Glenn Roeder's men to another defeat they'll want to forget and increases the pressure on Roeder himself as West Ham's season went from bad to worse.
Although most punters would have put money on Paul Scholes to continue his scoring run against the Hammers this afternoon, it was actually Welshman Giggs who answered his critics with a double strike in the first-half to send United on their way and leave the Hammers with an up-hill battle to keep their FA Cup dream alive.
Giggs fired United into the lead after just eight minutes thanks to terrible defending from West Ham and to some misfortune for Scholes as his goal-bound effort was cleared off the line by Ian Pearce before the rebound came to the winger and he found the net.
Giggs made it 2-0 on 29 minutes when Juan Sebastien Veron's square ball was powerfully struck by the Welsh international and it looped goalwards over David James off Gary Breen's shoulder.
West Ham picked themselves up as the first half wore on and their fans might have had some hope of a revival in the second-half but that couldn't have been further from the truth despite Scholes' early departure through illness.
Within two minutes of the re-start it ws 3-0 when van Nistelrooy popped up to score and when Phil Neville made it 4-0 after converting Diego Forlan's cross, the Hammers players and fans knew a massacre was on the cards. A tangle between Breen and James on the edge of the box gifted van Nistelrooy with a wide open net into which he scored his 24th goal of the season. The rout was complete when the Dutchman turned provider to set up substitute Ole Gunnar Solskjaer for the sixth.
Filed by Amanda Fennelly
