Scoring A Single Goal In The 97th Minute, McTominay Takes MU To The FA Cup Quarter-Finals

United players celebrate victory over West Ham (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - Midfielder Scott McTominay led Manchester United past West Ham United to advance to the FA Cup quarter-finals. McTominay's single goal sealed a 1-0 victory in the fifth round match at Old Trafford Stadium, Manchester, England, Tuesday local time (Wednesday WIB).

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's decision to assign McTominay to replace Nemanja Matic since the 73rd minute proved to be a powerful strategy.

The 24-year-old player who graduated from the MU academy became the only goal scorer in the 97th minute to ensure the Red Devils' victory in the extra round, as recorded by the official FA website.

Matches in normal time seemed to have more injuries smothered West Ham players rather than goals.

West Ham had to lose Angelo Ogbonna just 16 minutes after the start and his replacement, Issa Diop, was only able to play until halftime because at the start of the second half he was replaced by Ryan Fredericks.

A good chance was created in the 27th minute for the hosts when Alex Telles sent in a corner which was met by Victor Lindelof's heading, but the ball that had bounced into Craig Dawson's body was pushed over by goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski.

Eight minutes into the second half, Fabianski made another resounding save when he sealed off Marcus Rashford's shooting space who tried to take advantage of Anthony Martial's missed shot.

The zero score lasted until the end of normal time and the match was continued to an additional round of 2x15 minutes.

In the 97th minute, McTominay broke the deadlock when he grabbed a wild ball from a poor sweep by West Ham's players, and this time Fabianski failed to react to catching the round skin which sank into the bottom right corner of the net.

After falling behind, West Ham seemed to have just woken up from a long sleep and recorded their first attempt on target of all the match in the 114th minute, but Said Benrahma's heading was too weak and headed right into the arms of goalkeeper Dean Henderson.

When the whistle sounded the match was over, MU followed the steps of the second caste team Bournemouth who had already qualified for the quarter-finals after eliminating Burnley in an early match.