Manchester: Manchester United reached the FA Cup quarterfinals for the seventh season in a row after substitute Scott McTominay’s goal in extra time sealed a 1-0 win over West Ham United on Wednesday (February 10).
Both sides looked lacked-luster during the fifth-round clash with precious few chances in normal time at Old Trafford. But McTominay finally broke the deadlock with a sharp low shot from Marcus Rashford’s clever set-up in the 97th minute.
United missed the creative flair of Bruno Fernandes who came off the bench on 73 minutes, Lukasz Fabianski made good saves from Victor Lindelof and Rashford. The visitors were also not helped by injuries with Issa Diop, who replaced Angelo Ogbonna early on, forced to leave the pitch after a clash of heads with Anthony Martial.
Diop was replaced by ‘concussion substitute’ Ryan Fredericks during halftime, implementing the first such substitution in English football since the start of a new rule designed to protect player safety.
“I think we got about 15 to 17 shots in the end but we need to be more clinical,” United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said. “We should have finished the game off earlier and finished in 90 minutes but sometimes it doesn’t happen.
“We needed to have a good result and a good feeling after today because we were low after the Everton game. It’s hard to take but they were really focused and did the job. That was really hard to take because the players played brilliantly well,” said David Moyes, West Ham manager.
“We lost a few players during the game and that was difficult. I don’t think we deserved to lose the game. We warranted the chance to go to penalty kicks.”
