FA Cup: Manchester United Advances To Quarter-Finals

An extra-time goal courtesy of substitute Scott McTominay was enough to ensure a 1-0 victory for Manchester United against a resilient West Ham side, as the hosts advanced to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup.

West Ham were without talisman Michail Antonio who picked up an injury before the game. The Hammers  were however set out to frustrate United, with Victor Lindelof’s header kept out by a superb save by goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski early in the first half.

A series of blocks and some committed defending restricted Manchester United’s efforts before halftime, while Andriy Yarmolenko had West Ham’s only real chance, taking Mark Noble’s low ball on the turn before Lindelof got in the way of his goal-bound effort.

The second half continued with United creating more chances, however,  Fabianski was determined to keep the visitors in the contest.

Anthony Martial headed wide from a Telles cross late in the game, while West Ham almost stole victory in injury time as Dawson headed wide from a corner.

Instead, the two sides lined up for 30 additional minutes after a hard-fought encounter neither would have liked given their already-packed fixture schedules for the remaining part of the 2020/2021 season.

Having waited 90 minutes for a goal, it took only seven minutes of extra-time for one to finally arrive after United had found themselves frustrated by the visitors resilience for the opening 90.

United were on the counter-attack with Martial leading the charge, before Luke Shaw’s cross was glanced away to Rashford. His perfect cross found McTominay,  who fired home to give the hosts the lead.

After the goal, West Ham looked deflated and hardly threatened the United defend. The goal was enough to advance Manchester United to the quarter-finals of the competition.

Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer felt his players provided the perfect response to conceding a late equaliser in the 3-3 draw with Everton last Saturday.

“We needed to have a good result and a good feeling today because we were low after the Everton game,” Solskjaer said after the game.

“That was hard to take but they were really focused and did the job.”

Manchester United will visit West Brom this sunday in the Premier League, while West Ham will host Sheffield United on Monday night.

Other FA Cup results

Burnley 0-2 Bournemouth

Chidi Nwoke.