Henrik Larsson had a fairytale debut for Manchester United as he helped the Red Devils sneak past Aston Villa 2-1 in FA Cup action tonight. Larsson scored on 55 minutes as Manchester United dominated Villa in the fixture. 

However Villa equalized with substitute Milan Baros, but not before United nearly doubled their lead when Ryan Giggs swerved a free kick only to see it hit the bar. But it was Man United's day all the way as "Super Sub" Ole Gunnar Solskjaer sneaked in a late winner to seal Villa's fate.

The match began in a tedious manner, with neither team really stamping its authority on the tie. However Larsson and Wayne Rooney combined thereafter to torment the Villa defense. Larsson in particular seemed to be enjoying his short loan spell at Old Trafford as he made penetrating runs through the Villa defense.

Rooney's performance was one he would like to forget quickly as he had only one clear chance to score, which he squandered by shooting it straight into the arms of the Villa keeper. Kirlay had a superb first half, making two brilliant saves to keep Larsson and Ronaldo at bay.

With Villa making no worthwhile attempt on the United goal, Martin O'Neill brought on Baros to replace Angel. Ten minutes into the second half, United broke the deadlock through Larsson. The Swede took control of the ball at the edge of the area and after steadying himself, shot the ball past Kirlay to score a goal on his debut.

The goal seemed to have an opposite effect on Villa as they upped the tempo in search for the equalizer. Their efforts were rewarded when Baros trapped a Gary Chill shot and slid the ball past Tomasz Kuszczak. Just when it looked that the tie will be decided in the replay at Villa Park, Solskjaer came up with the winning goal in the last minute of the match.

Ferguson said that his team deserved the victory for the way they played the match. "I thought we were heading for a replay but we deserved the victory. We created a lot of chances and some of our football was terrific. That's Solskjaer's ninth of the season. We took off one good finisher and put another one on", Ferguson added.