FA Cup / Maxliu / 03 January 2010 /

Manchester United crash out of the FA Cup at the Third Round stage after Leeds win thrilling Old Trafford contest...

Leeds United were matched at [18.0] as they recorded a sensational FA Cup Third Round victory over Manchester United at Old Trafford.

Sir Alex Ferguson was furious to see his side go down to a team which lie 42 league places below them but Jermaine Beckford's first half goal was enough to dump out the Premier League champions. The 26-year-old striker was backed at 15.5 to be the first goalscorer.

This was Fergie's first Third Round defeat and will surely rank as one of the most miserable occasions of his illustrious career. United never got going in the first-half as the visitors made all the early running. In the 19th minute Beckford, who has been attracting considerable interest from Championship and Premier League clubs, got beyond the United defence to stroke his shot past Tomas Kuszack in the United goal.

Rather than sit back, Leeds were emboldened by their success and, despite Wayne Rooney having an effort cleared off the line, probably deserved to go in a goal up at the break.

In the second half, Ferguson, who already had Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov up front, sent on Ryan Giggs, Antonio Valencia and Michael Owen. However, Owen, like Rooney, fluffed a decent chance late on as United searched for an equaliser.

Leeds' defence were resolute though and they could even have made it 2-0 as substitute Robert Snodgrass smacked a free-kick against the bar with 10 minutes remaining. United's desperation grew as the clock ticked down and, even though they had to endure five minutes of injury time, Leeds held on to reward those who backed under 1.5 goals at [15.5] and an away clean sheet at [13.5].

The biggest price to come in on the back of the result was [44.0] for 0-1 in the correct score market. Before the match Manchester United had been fancied as second favourites for the 2010 FA Cup and were backed into [1.2] to defeat Leeds here.

It wasn't to be though and Leeds, whose odds for an FA Cup win have come in from [590.00] to [80.0], will be ecstatic as they travel home across the Pennines.

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