Manchester United 1, Wolves 0: Bill Howell's big match verdict and player ratings
Lively substitute Kevin Doyle three times went close late on and the imperious Christophe Berra nodded over from close range when he should have scored.
The one moment of real class arrived when Danny Welbeck won it for United midway through the second half, finishing a wonderful move that saw him exchange passes with Michael Owen and fire into the net.
Ferguson had opted for an entirely different side from that which had pipped City in Sunday’s derby, but he could still field eight internationals, with another three, in Rio Ferdinand, Zoran Tosic and Antonio Valencia, on the bench.
Wolves boss Mick McCarthy could afford to rest two himself, in Andy Keogh and Doyle, and still name five full internationals in his starting 11.
Kightly, on his first start since March, slotted in extremely nicely for 77 minutes.
Austrian striker Stefan Maierhofer was rather less impressive on his full debut but did play a decisive hand in the Wolves move that led to the red-card.
There were welcome starts, too, for Kevin Foley and Jody Craddock in defence, although neither they nor Sylvan Ebanks-Blake – making his first start since the opening day of the season – will begin the game at Sunderland according to McCarthy afterwards.
United went down to ten men when Maierhofer beat Jonny Evans in the air and made a nuisance of himself in challenging Wes Brown which enabled Kightly to run on to a loose ball down the right.
With Da Silva gone, Jones forced Kuszczak into a fine one-handed save with the set-piece but United, momentarily at least, upped a gear.
Owen should have headed them into the lead from Neville’s cross, but sent it into Marcus Hahnemann’s hands on the bounce after he had peeled away from Berra.
Wolves could easily have gone ahead before the break when Neville skewed Kightly’s cross high into the air, which allowed Jones a shot at goal but, with a rush of blood to the head, he aimed somewhere into the middle of the Stretford End.
McCarthy brought on misfiring Serb Nenad Milijas for Segundo Castillo at the break but Wolves neither created more nor did they get opened up by a rare United attack.
Karl Henry latched on to Ebanks-Blake’s pass but was forced wide of Kuszczak’s goal and could not quite find Maierhofer in the six- yard box.
Nani’s cross somehow evaded everyone until it grazed Marcus Hahnemann’s chest and hit the American’s near post.
Then came United’s goal, with Michael Carrick finding Welbeck, who exchanged passes with Owen and settled the tie.
With ten minutes remaining Doyle conjured up his best attempt yet with a superb left-foot volley from George Elokobi’s near-post cross that flashed wide of the United goal.
Despite Wolves’ late dominance they could have fallen to a bigger defeat had teenage Norwegian striker Joshua King not seen his close-range shot blocked by Berra then Hahnemann stand tall to block a fizzing drive.
MANCHESTER UNITED (4-4-2): Kuszczak; Neville, Brown, Jonathan Evans, Fabio Da Silva; Welbeck
(King,81), Carrick, Gibson, Nani; Owen (Valencia,70), Macheda (De Laet,31). Not used: Amos, Ferdinand, Tosic, Eikrem.
WOLVES (4-4-2): Hahnemann 6; Foley 6, BERRA 7, Craddock 6, Elokobi 6; Kightly 6(Keogh 77), Castillo 6 (Milijas h/t, 5), Henry 7, David Jones 6; Ebanks-Blake 7 (Doyle 66), Maierhofer 6. Not used: Ikeme, Halford, Zubar, Hill.
Referee: Peter Walton
