MAN UNITED YAIKUNG'UTA KISAWASAWA FULHAM FA

Wayne Rooney overcame the indignity of being hauled off penalty-taking duties to keep Manchester United on course for their first FA Cup triumph since 2004.

Rooney, who missed his 10th United spot-kick in the third-round replay against West Ham, was the subject of some withering remarks about it from manager Sir Alex Ferguson in his programme notes.

Cruising: Javier Hernandez (right) is congratulated by Wayne Rooney (left) after scoring Manchester United's fourth

Game over: Hernandez scored Manchester United's third to put the result beyond doubt

Doubled: Rooney scored Manchester United's second of the evening after half-time

On the spot: Ryan Giggs opened the scoring for United from the spot

MATCH FACTS

Man United: De Gea, Rafael, Evra, Jones, Smalling, Anderson (Kagawa 71), Giggs (Valencia 71), Carrick (Scholes 61), Nani, Rooney, Hernandez

Subs not used: Lindegaard, Ferdinand, Welbeck, Van Persie

Goals: Giggs 3, Rooney 50, Hernandez 53, 66

Fulham: Schwarzer, Riise, Hangeland, Baird (Karagounis 46), Hughes, Riether, Sidwell, Duff (Rodallega 61), Kacaniklic, Berbatov, Ruiz (Dejagah 70)

Subs not used: Etheridge, Senderos, Briggs, Petric

Goal: Hughes 77

Referee: Mark Clattenburg

Not surprisingly when United won a penalty after 70 seconds, the responsibility was handed to Ryan Giggs, who duly beat Mark Schwarzer low to his right. But Rooney shrugged off the slight to turn in a typically frenetic shift, eventually rewarded when he struck a superb second goal early in the second half.

Javier Hernandez rounded off the win with two goals of his own as Fulham, featuring former United record signing Dimitar Berbatov, were beaten with embarrassing ease.

Ferguson, whose squad went to Qatar for some warm-weather training ahead of the tie, said: ‘The FA Cup is an important trophy for us this season. We haven’t won it for nine years, we really need to put in a big performance this year.

‘Players like Rio Ferdinand have never won an FA Cup medal and we need to do something about that.’

Ferguson and Rooney have a complex relationship. The manager has never fully forgiven the player for questioning United’s ambition a couple of seasons ago and the arrival of Robin Van Persie has meant the 27-year-old has been left out of the Premier League starting line-up on more than one occasion this season.

With Van Persie given a rest yesterday, Rooney had the chance to take centre stage, even if the manager made sure he did not take United’s early penalty when Aaron Hughes handled.

‘Ryan is one of our best penalty-takers,’ said Ferguson. ‘I think it was fair that, with Wayne missing the penalties he’s had, it was the time to give him a break. He’ll come back to it, no question about that.

Incriminating: Aaron Hughes gave away the penalty after handling the ball in the box

Battle: Alex Kacaniklic (right) and Rafael compete for possession

‘One thing about Wayne, it doesn’t faze him if he misses. He has a terrific temperament like that.’
In his programme notes, Ferguson had said ‘you can certainly criticise Wayne’ for his poor penalty record.

But there was little else to criticise him about yesterday.

At times, it seemed like a personal duel between Rooney and Schwarzer. Rooney hit the bar, was denied by the Australian at point-blank range and then fired wide from eight yards.

However, all that frustration turned to relief shortly after Berbatov had spurned Fulham’s only genuine chance of bagging an equaliser.

Rooney collected a pass by Anderson, cut inside the defence and rifled a clean finish past Schwarzer. He followed his goal by crossing for Hernandez to score a third, and the Mexican later added a fourth with a shot that deflected off Hughes.

Hughes’s 77th-minute header, from a Georgios Karagounis corner for Fulham, was merely a meaningless consolation.

Ferguson recognised the importance of being able to win comfortably without top scorer Van Persie.

‘The four strikers we had in 1999 (Cole, Solskjaer, Sheringham, Yorke) were around the 20-goal mark, we’re in business.’

Close: Rooney looks to the skies after seeing the ball go wide

Welcome back: Dimitar Berbatov (left) and Chris Smalling (right) battle for possession

Giggs, one of only three current United players who has won the FA Cup with the club, added: ‘A club like ours should be getting to finals.

‘We’ve got a proud record in the competition, but have not done so well in the past eight or nine years. There are players here desperate to win it, hopefully this is the year.’

While United stride ahead in three competitions, Fulham boss Martin Jol only has a relegation fight to look forward to.

His side resembled lambs to the slaughter and were lucky not to concede a second penalty when Damien Duff handled.

Berbatov had one sight of goal and his weak shot was blocked by Patrice Evra.

‘It was lucky United only scored four goals because it was one of those days when we could have lost by six or seven,’ admitted Jol.

And that was without facing Van Persie.