Rashford on the double late on as Man Utd book Carabao semi-final spot
ON SONG: Manchester United's Marcus Rashford scores their side's second goal of the game. Picture: Martin Rickett/PA Wire.
THERE will be far more convincing performances from Erik ten Hag’s team than this but a season which was expected to be all about re-building for Manchester United is finally offering supporters the whiff of silverware.
Antony’s first-half goal, and two last-gasp Marcus Rashford efforts, carried United through to the Carabao Cup semi-finals for the third time in the last four years although not since 2017, when Jose Mourinho’s side lifted the cup, have they reached Wembley.
It was an evening that once again illustrated how United are currently struggling to convert chances and possession into the hard currency of goals, although talks over a loan move for Burnley’s Wout Weghorst, currently with Besiktas in Turkey, were progressing last night and a deal moving closer.
And it was not until the 90th minute, when substitute Facundo Pellistri took advantage of gaping holes in defence played Rashford clean through, that the England striker scored a second, from eight yards - continuing his run of scoring in eight consecutive Old Trafford appearances.
Four minutes later, Rashford rounded it off, with another one-on-one finish, this time from a Casemiro pass.
The opening goal, after 21 minutes of one-way traffic, came in trademark fashion from Brazilian international Antony, at the end of a nice, flowing move featuring short, sharp passes from Alejandro Garnacho and Fred.
The ball found Antony outside the Charlton area and able to switch the ball onto his favoured - make that only - foot. The curling 20-yard, left-foot strike is becoming a familiar sight and this one curled into the far corner of the visitors’ goal.
It had been coming, thanks in large part to an electrifying early display from Alejandro Garnacho, the young Argentinian winger who is slowly but surely establishing himself in the United first team squad this season.
Inside the opening 10 minutes, he carved out three decent chances: setting up Diogo Dalot for a wild shot over then topping a couple of decent, skilful solo runs with shots that feels just wide.
But there was an indication that perhaps everything was not going to be smooth sailing for ten Hag when Dalot was forced off, injured, after 34 minutes, and replaced by Aaron Wan-Bissaka, who has re-established himself in the manager’s first team plans of late. With an eye on Saturday’s Manchester derby, this was no time for United to be taking risks.
Yet they were labouring to find the killer second goal that would put the tie, and the League One visitors, to bed.
Just before Dalot’s departure, Fred won a free-kick, after a foul by Albie Morgan, and took it himself, sending a thundering left-foot shot against the right-hand upright from 25 yards.
But there was little to concern Tom Heaton, the reserve United keeper starting his first game for the club, in his second spell, 20 years after he made his reserve team debut for the Reds.
He dealt with a couple of crosses that briefly threatened a way back into the game for the minnows while, at the other end of the experience scale, ten Hag also handed a debut to 17-year-old forward Kobbie Mainoo, who had been all of four months old when Heaton eventually made his league debut, on loan from United at Swindon, in 2005.
The youngster, a star in last season’s FA Youth Cup success, showed some neat, technical touches but, not surprisingly, seemed unsettled by the place and physicality on occasion.
But it was the kind of night for just this sort of experiment as ten Hag looked to edge closer to his first trophy, in his first season, while resting some of his senior stars.
World Cup winner Lisandro Martinez started his first game since his heroics in Qatar, alongside Harry Maguire whose future in ten Hag’s first team thoughts is far less secure.
So there was more than enough experience in the United ranks to make this a more comfortable evening than was proving to be the case.
A travelling contingent of nearly 9,000 - the biggest to follow Charlton to ask away game since a visit to this ground in 1994 - roared when Scott Fraser lined up for a shot early in the second half, only to clear the goal by some distance.
And they breathed a collective sigh of relief after 50 minutes, when Anthony Elanga converted Wan-Bissaka’s cross, only for him to be ruled offside.
Fred almost played in Mainoo, although the youngster mis-controlled, and Antony sent another long shot flashing past the far post and ten Hag had seen enough and took action to try and avoid the tie slipping away.
Casemiro, Christian Eriksen and Rashford are all in a rich vein of individual form, and all were thrown on around the hour mark as ten Hag went for the kill.
It nearly came, five minutes later, when Garnacho sped down the left, cut into the area and produced a powerful, accurate shot which Ashley Maynard-Brewer did well to keep out, with an athletic, two-handed diving save.
: Heaton 6; Dalot 6 (Wan-Bissaka 34, 7), Maguire 7, Martinez 7, Malacia 7; McTominay 6, Fred 7 (Eriksen 60, 6); Antony 7 (Rashford 60, 7), Mainoo 5 (Casemiro 59, 7), Garnacho 8; Elanga 5 (Pellistri 84). Substitutes (not used) de Gea, Lindelof, Eriksen, Shaw, Wan-Bissaka, Iqbal.
Maynard-Brewer 7; Clare 7, Inniss 7, Ness 6, S Sessegnon 5 (Stockley 82); Morgan 7 (Payne 66, 5), Dobson 6, Fraser 6; Rak-Sakyi 6 (Henry 81), Leaburn 6, Blackett-Taylor 8 (O’Connell 60, 6). Substitutes (not used) Lavelle, Jaiyesimi, MacGillivray, Kirk, Chin.
: J Gillett 7
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