KEY POINTS:
Few personalities in the history of Manchester United strikers are more different than Eric Cantona and Henrik Larsson. But Sir Alex Ferguson was compelled to compare his Swedish debutant with the former enfant terrible yesterday after his goalscoring contribution against Aston Villa.
United were indebted to Ole Gunnar
Solskjaer and a horrendous injury-time mistake from on-loan goalkeeper Gabor Kiraly for their 2-1 home win and a place in the FA Cup fourth-round draw.
The Norwegian struck in stoppage time after Milan Baros had appeared to secure a replay for Martin O'Neill's side.
Larsson instantly proved the merits of his 10-week loan move from Helsingborgs with a display brimming with intelligence and United's opening goal on a profligate afternoon.
Joining 11-times winners United are Blackburn Rovers, who won 4-1 at Everton. The day's two other games between first division and Premier League clubs both finished level.
Sheffield Wednesday and Manchester City drew 1-1 at Hillsborough, and Cardiff City and Tottenham Hotspur had a goalless draw at a windswept Ninian Park.
"Henrik will continue to score important goals for us," a relieved Ferguson said.
"There are goalscorers and then there are goalscorers who always manage to score the important goals.
"Cantona was like that, Solskjaer has been doing that for a long time, and Henrik has always done it. He will prove a great signing for us."
Larsson lasted 78 minutes before being replaced by the matchwinner, and delivered an impressive display after not playing in a competitive game for a month.
"We had to find out about his fitness," said Ferguson. "Playing at home in this game was a great chance to do that, and I am pleased with him.
"His movement, and his judgment of when to run and when not to run, were terrific."
Martin O'Neill, Larsson's former manager at Celtic and now the man responsible for lifting Villa's season after 11 games without a win, said: "People always used to ask me in Scotland if Henrik would score as many goals in England. My answer was always the same - he could score in any league he chooses, and he has showed that already."
O'Neill would not be drawn on referee Martin Atkinson's failure to spot Wayne Rooney kicking at two Villa players during the game.
"I'm staying out of it. What's the point?" he said, although he did reveal his goalkeeper's despair at the stoppage-time lapse that enabled Solskjaer's strike to slip through his grasp and over the line.
"I am grateful to Gabor for coming down from Crystal Palace as we were down on numbers," said O'Neill, who has lost Thomas Sorensen and Stuart Taylor to knee injuries. "He is downcast but that is the way it goes.
"United are always capable of scoring. We played our best football when we went behind and Milan took his goal splendidly."
Ferguson conceded: "I think we deserved to win the game because we made a host of chances, but you have to feel a bit for Villa."
- INDEPENDENT