SIR Alex Ferguson hailed Michael Owen after the striker rolled back the years to fire United through to the last eight of the Carling Cup.

Owen produced a vintage second half strike to seal a 2-0 win against a spirited Barnsley.

The United striker is desperate to earn an England recall, and will hope his strike will send another reminder to Fabio Capello, whose side face Brazil next month.

Ferguson said: “It was a fantastic goal. He had such quick feet, it was a marvelous finish, just a great goal.”

It remains to be seen if it will be enough to catch Capello’s attention. The Italian was not on hand to see the stunning strike and has failed to witness any of Owen’s three goals since his summer move to United.

But Owen insists he is calm about his international future.

"England is not something I go on the pitch thinking about, I just go out there trying to help the players,” he said. "It's up to the England manager what he thinks."

Another player hoping to figure in Capello’s plans, Danny Welbeck, fired United ahead after just six minutes to put the Carling Cup holders in charge.

But United didn’t have it all their own way with Gary Neville shown a straight red for a lunge in the second half.

Ferguson said: "I've just seen the sending off, and Gary did follow through with the tackle and caught the player.

“It was not high, just above the ankle, but in the present climate I would say that the referee was probably correct.”

Ferguson added: "Barnsley worked very hard and put in a lot of effort, and they had one or two chances after we went down to ten men.

“But over all I think we deserved to win the game and I'm delighted with the response from the players.”

Meanwhile Barnsley confirmed they will launch a full investigation after the catering area in the concourse of the visiting end of Oakwell was vandalised.

What do you think? Have your say.