FA Cup: Red Devils sink stubborn Everton

Anthony Martial struck in the final minute of added time to earn Manchester United a 2-1 victory over Everton in a highly-entertaining FA Cup semi-final tie at Wembley.
The Red Devils took the lead in the first half through former Toffees midfielder, Marouane Fellaini, before being pegged back by an unfortunate Chris Smalling own goal 15 minutes from time.
Everton – who had earlier missed a penalty to draw level – had plenty of chances to win the end-to-end game themselves, but in the end Martial popped up in the dying stages to send United through.
Romelu Lukaku had the best chance of an explosive match – which saw a whopping 38 attempts on goal on all – capitalising on some hesitancy in the United defence to round David de Gea only for his shot to be kept off the line by a backtracking Wayne Rooney.
A poor first touch rather let the Belgian down on that occasion, and it was a similar story later in the half when played through down the right to this time be thwarted by De Gea down low.
Everton were certainly not afraid to fire away shots from distance, with both Ross Barkley and James McCarthy forcing De Gea into a couple of fairly routine stops in goal.
United’s first opening up the other end fell the way of Jesse Lingard, who fired into the body of Joel Robles with his first-time attempt after being picked out by Rooney.
Rooney had a go at goal from range himself soon after, as did Marcus Rashford from a central position, but both men were kept out by Robles as the entertaining opening quarter of the match made way for a more conservative contest heading towards the break.
The breakthrough did arrive on 34 minutes, however, as eventual matchwinner Martial got the better of Mohamed Besic down the right when bursting into the box and picked out Fellaini at the end of his run.
Fellaini’s rather scuffed effort made its way past Robles to give the Red Devils a crucial lead – the first time their opponents had conceded in this competition during their run to the final four.
The Merseyside outfit, who had won both previous meetings between these two sides at this stage of the FA Cup, were given a route back into the game 10 minutes into the second half when Timothy Fosu-Mensah brought down Barkley inside the box.
It looked to be a harsh decision made by referee Anthony Taylor on the face of it, and United will feel like justice was done when De Gea superbly dived to his right to push aside Lukaku’s spot kick.
Just when the game appeared to be petering out towards extra time, a ball slipped through for Martial allowed the Frenchman to prove his worth once more as he coolly tucked home to win the tie for United.
Defeat for Everton will pile further pressure on Martinez, who has now seen his side go seven games without a win in all competitions, while opposite number Louis van Gaal can look forward to a another Wembley date in May against either Crystal Palace or Watford.