Manchester United 2-0 Tottenham Hotspur

Manchester United comfortably beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 in the Carling Cup quarter-finals as they look to retain the trophy they won last season.

The match was a repeat of last year's final - which United won on penalties - and two long range strikes from Darren Gibson were enough to seal victory at Old Trafford and take them through to the semis.

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson included Dimitar Berbatov after a spell on the sidelines to partner Danny Welbeck up-front. Spurs boss Harry Redknapp opted to rest a few of his players, bringing in Robbie Keane, David Bentley, Alan Hutton and Gareth Bale.

The home side nearly took the lead inside the opening minute when Anderson dispossessed Wilson Palacios in midfield, but after a surging run towards goal, he could only drag his shot wide.

Despite the first minute lapse in concentration, Spurs had began the better of the two sides and Jermian Defoe tested Tomasz Kuszczak from 20 yards.

United took the lead just past the quarter hour mark when Anderson laid off the ball to Gibson 25 yards out, and after controlling the ball, he drilled his shot low into the far corner.

Spurs nearly equalised four minutes later after a flowing move resulted in Gareth Bale crossing for Defoe, but his shot was superbly blocked by Ritchie De Laet.

The home side began to gradually get on top after the half hour mark and should have doubled their lead when Berbatov chipped in a cross for the on-rushing Park Ji-sung, but his first time effort went well wide.

However, the Old Trafford side did score their second goal five minutes later thanks to another long range Gibson goal. The Irish midfielder played a neat one-two on the edge of the box with Welbeck and curled a first time curling effort into the top corner.

Spurs tried to pull a goal back before the break but speculative efforts from Palacios and Bentley did not trouble Kuszczak's goal.

The away side began the second half well but were failing to find the killer ball until they created their first shot on target of the half when Bale burst down the left hand side, getting past Gary Neville, before pulling the ball back to Bentley whose first time shot was punched away by Kuszczak.

The same combination came close again as a lofted Bale cross to the back post found Bentley, but he headed wide when well placed.

United were struggling to create any opportunities and the closest they came was through Park, who struck a shot from the edge of the box through a crowd of players but it went a couple of yards wide.

The game disappointingly petered out as Spurs failed to conjure up any kind of late charge to reduce the lead, with a Peter Crouch header the only attempt on goal in the remaining few minutes.

Substitute Federico Macheda hit a 20 yard shot wide in injury time, but it will be Manchester United who will go into tomorrow's semi-final draw.