Michael Owen returns in style as Manchester United rout Scunthorpe

The Championship side made a fantastic start to the game when Josh Wright slammed home a stunning 25-yard effort into the top corner to put his side into the lead, with a goal that will be talked about in Lincolnshire for years to come.

But the dream was short-lived. Fifteen minutes later and it was 2-1 in favour of the reigning champions, with Darron Gibson and Chris Smalling both taking full advantage of their team's rare forays forward.

Normal service was fully restored in the second half when Michael Owen first rolled back the years with a classic breakaway and fine finish and a scrambled second, and Ji-Sung Park cooly coverted from an Owen flick-on from a corner inbetween the former England international's two goals to put the game firmly to bed, before Martyn Woolford added a late consolation.

Manchester United made 11 changes from those who beat Liverpool last weekend, with Michael Owen and Anderson both coming into the United starting line-up for the first time since Febuary, and £7.5m striker Bebe started on the bench.

These wholesale changes may have contributed to Scunthorpe’s fantastic start to the game. Within the first 10 minutes, Josh Wright and Eddie Nolan both tested Tomasz Kuszczak with first a decent volley from the edge of the area, then a strong drive from a little nearer.

This was just Scunthorpe getting started though as midway through the first half, Martyn Woolford’s clever lay-off toJosh Wright, after a jinking run towards the United defence, allowed the 20-year-old to take a quick touch to set himself before driving it straight into Kuszczak’s top right-hand corner.

Unfortunately for the Championship side, the lead didn’t last long. Just four minutes later, and with United’s first real attack, Chris Smalling’s long ball over the top was picked up by Darron Gibson inside the penalty area and the midfielder duly lifted a beautiful shot over Joe Murphy in the Scunthorpe goal and into the net.

The Irons’ heads did not drop though and they continued their fine start to proceedings. With just half-an-hour on the clock, Scunthorpe could have scored their second when Michael O’Connor’s inswinging corner was met by Cliff Byrne, but his header whizzed narrowly over the Manchester crossbar.

With Scunthorpe bossing possession and showing by far the most hunger and desire between the two teams, it was obviously the Premier League side to score next. Wheras the Championship side were not taking full advantage of their attacking intent, you couldn’t say the same about their opponents as with only their second attack, they scored their second goal. Wes Brown worked the ball cleverly down the right and fed in Ji-Sung Park, and the South Korean’s cross was converted simply by Chris Smalling for his first for his new club.

Yet again though the home teams refused to lie down, sensing, and rightfully so, that they still had a chance to come away with a win and Jonathan Forte nearly hit back immediately when his left foot shot from 20 yards was spilled by Kuszczak, and the Pole was lucky not to concede as only the bounce of the ball stopped it from crossing the line.

Then it was again the Manchester side to register on the scoresheet and Federico Macheda really should have done better when the young Italian headed over a fantastic cross from the left by Javier Hernandez when only six yards out for United’s first attack that failed in a goal, and they nearly regretted that as Scunthorpe’s Eddie Nolan’s powerful 20-yard drive again forced Kuszczak to parry, not once but twice, before his defence helped him and cleared.

Unfortunately the story was different in the second half. Just three minutes after the break Michael Owen was played through brilliantly by Macheda and the striker showed glimpses of his past by racing through on goal, opening up his body and finished well in off the post to give Murphy no chance in goal.

This was immediately followed by Ji-Sung Park slotting home from around 18 yards, after Owen flicked on a corner, to make it 4-1, and the impressive Championship side was starting to show signs of accepting defeat, with their attacking threats becoming more and more sporadic and, with that, Manchester United took more and more control of the game.

Normality was completely restored when the South Korean and Englishman combined again as Ji-Sung Park drive into the penalty area was followed up by a shot that was spilled into the path of Michael Owen to convert from mere yards out.

This was quickly followed by the moment many fans, not just Manchester United fans, would have no doubt been waiting for, the first appearance of £7.5m Bebe, whose first contribution was some neat control near the right-flank before his shot was well blocked by David Mirfin.

Macheda had the ball again in the back of the net with 10 minutes remaining but was correctly ruled offside to wipe the smile off his face, but just moments afterwards a fantastic free kick Bobby Grant was again parried by Kuszczak, who looked shaky in goal for the majority of the match and a better team would no doubt have made him suffer more.

But Scunthorpe had one last real attack in them before the final whistle went and Martyn Woolford gave their fans one last cheer, after a first half performance to be more than proud of, when he converted past Kuszczak from inside the box.