Manchester United 1-0 West Ham United
AET. 0-0 at 90 minutes
Emirates FA Cup fifth round
West Ham United’s Emirates FA Cup dreams were dashed at Manchester United on Tuesday night as the Red Devils edged a tight contest to prevail after extra-time.
Clear-cut chances were few and far between on a bitterly cold evening at Old Trafford, until Scott McTominay seized his opportunity with the 97th minute winner.
The Hammers were sturdy in defence, and gave little away despite having to twice shuffle their pack due to injuries to Angelo Ogbonna and Issa Diop, but ultimately could not do enough at the other end to prolong their cup journey.
West Ham were dealt a blow inside the game’s opening 15 minutes when Ogbonna was forced from the action with an ankle injury.
The Italy defender was the unfortunate man in a sandwich between Anthony Martial and Łukasz Fabiański as the goalkeeper came out to block from the home striker, and Ogbonna was caught as he followed through on the shot. Diop was summoned from the bench to replace him.
West Ham struggled to get on the ball before the break, with Manchester United enjoying in excess of two-thirds of possession.
Fabianski wasn’t overworked in the opening period though, as his defenders blocked six of the hosts’ eight efforts on goal. One which did get through, however, needed an excellent save on 27 minutes.
Victor Lindelöf got up high to head Alex Telles’ corner at goal. It took a deflection off Craig Dawson and looked bound for the bottom corner, but Fabiański stretched down low to his left to tip the ball onto the post and to safety.
West Ham were forced into another defensive reshuffle at the break, as Diop had to go off as with a suspected concussion following a clash of heads with Martial at the end of the opening period.
The Hammers were grateful to Fabiański for saving from Marcus Rashford when the home forward found himself in space at the far post shortly after the restart, before they were forced into yet another change due to injury, with youngster Mipo Odubeko coming on for Andriy Yarmolenko.
That proved to be the only real chance of the second period, with West Ham’s nearly moment arriving in stoppage time when Craig Dawson climbed high to meet a corner, but couldn’t make the contact required to trouble Dean Henderson in the home goal.
Into extra-time and the hosts took advantage of a quick break to move in front midway through its opening period.
When a Hammers attack broke down on halfway, they quickly found themselves shorthanded at the back. Martial’s cross was half-headed clear by Aaron Cresswell and Tomáš Souček, but not away from danger, and Rashford teed up McTominay to drill home from 12 yards.
Saïd Benrahma nodded at Henderson as the Hammers looked for a response, but the hosts saw out time to ensure it would be they who progressed to the quarter-finals.
Manchester United: Henderson, Wan-Bissaka (Williams 91), Lindelöf, Maguire, Telles (Shaw 91), Matic (McTominay 73), Fred, Greenwood (Cavani 86), van de Beek (Fernandes 73), Rashford, Martial
Subs: Grant (GK), Tuanzebe, James, Diallo
Goal: McTominay 97
West Ham United: Fabiański, Coufal, Dawson, Ogbonna (Diop 16 (Fredericks 46)), Cresswell, Rice, Souček, Bowen (Johnson 46), Noble, Fornals (Benrahma 88), Yarmolenko (Odubeko 54 (Lanzini 112))
Subs: Trott (GK), Balbuena, Alves
Referee: Paul Tierney