Boss pleased by goal return

The Reds eased to victory at St. Mary's thanks to goals from Danny Welbeck, Nani and Darron Gibson and booked their place in the fourth round where they will take on Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford.

It was the first time United had scored more than one goal in a domestic fixture since the 5-3 win over Blackburn in the Carling Cup at the beginning of December. And Sir Alex was pleased to see Gibson add his name to an ever-growing list of goalscorers.

"It's our best scoreline for quite a while," the boss told MUTV. "We've been missing too many chances, but at least we took a better percentage of them against Southampton.

"It was good to see Darron get off the mark. There's been a good spread of goals throughout the squad this season - that's 14 different players who have scored this season which is healthy."

Southampton were the architects of their own downfall after Matthew Paterson was dismissed for a rash challenge on Nemanja Vidic and David McGoldrick gave away a penalty after he was adjudged to have handled in the area.

While Sir Alex felt the red card for Paterson was warranted, the United boss was less convinced about his side's second half spot-kick.

"I can't make up my mind about the penalty," he admitted. "I know he put his arm up and that's obviously why the referee gave it, but it may have actually glanced