Woolford 90 + 2       Smalling 36

                                                                                                              Owen 49, 71

                                                                                                              Park 54

Manchester United successfully opened their Carling Cup defence, and three-in-a-row attempt, far less comfortably than suggested by the scoreline.

Second-choice goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak was named man-of-the-match for a string of saves, though more for their frequency than their difficulty.

Kuszczak had already denied Iron’s Josh Wright and Eddie Nolan when Wright powered a right-foot 20-yard drive past him on 19 minutes.

And Chris Byrne headed over a golden close-range opportunity to double the lead on 32 minutes.

United only mustered two shots in the first 36 minutes, but scored from both to lead at half-time.

Darron Gibson lobbed United level on 23 minutes from Chris Smalling’s long ball. And 13 minutes later Smalling himself supplied a deft near-post finish to Park Ji-Sung’s right-wing cross.

Michael Owen sped clear to make it 3-1 on 49 minutes with a right-foot shot after Federico Macheda’s neat through-ball.

And Park fired home a half-cleared corner right-footed from 15 yards to make it 4-1 five minutes later, before Owen tapped in the rebound from another Park right-footer on 71 minutes.

Kuszczak was never idle, though, denying Woolford and, three times, Bobby Grant, before Woolford’s deflected drive in stoppage time gave Scunthorpe a hugely-deserved consolation.