Dull United do the job
FA CUP: DOMINATED POSSESSION BUT STRUGGLED TO DO ENOUGH WITH IT
Manchester United reached the FA Cup quarterfinals for the seventh straight season as substitute Scott McTominay’s goal in extra time sealed a 1-0 win over West Ham United on Tuesday.
Both sides lacked spark in a dour fifth-round clash with precious few chances in normal time at Old Trafford.
But McTominay finally relieved the tedium with a sharp low shot from Marcus Rashford’s clever set-up in the 97th minute.
United badly missed the creative flair of Bruno Fernandes, who came off the bench in the 73rd minute, although they did fashion the only real chances in normal time with Lukasz Fabianski making good saves from Victor Lindelof and Rashford.
West Ham, for whom David Moyes is still looking for his first win back at Old Trafford as an opposing manager, created next to nothing although Craig Dawson failed to connect with a header in front of goal in the last seconds of normal time.
The visitors were 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 at halftime – the first such substitution in English soccer since the start of a new rule designed to protect player safety.
That was one of the few talking points in a game that never lived up to its pre-match billing.
“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.”
Solskjaer’s side, who conceded a last-gasp equaliser on Saturday against visitors Everton in the Premier League, dominated possession but struggled to do much with it.
Fabianski did well to turn Lindelof’s header onto the post in the first half while in the second he reacted superbly to smother Rashford’s effort.
Solskjaer eventually sent influential midfielder Fernandes on to try and shake things up but it was fellow substitute McTominay who settled the tie.
When Declan Rice gave the ball away on a rare West Ham foray, United surged forward with Fred’s cross eventually halfcleared to Rashford, who had the vision to tap the ball inside for McTominay to fire home from 12 yards.
West Ham huffed and puffed but very rarely looked like dragging the tie into a penalty shootout. –
Orlando Pirates midfielder Siphesihle Ndlovu hailed a wellworked plan, after the Buccaneers struck early to kill off Cape Town City 2-0 in a DStv Premiership clash on Tuesday.
Ndlovu and his teammates started the game on a high note by scoring two goals in the first five minutes at Orlando Stadium.
“It was a great team effort, we had to grind, we had to fight and we had to be united to win this game. It was very important for us to close out the game early, I’m very happy with the team, we worked very well together,” said Ndlovu after the game.
The margin would have been much bigger had Pirates taken better advantage of a leaky City rearguard, while the home side remained solid at the back, bar a couple of minor mistakes that they were able to get away with.
Deon Hotto got the first goal for Pirates, while Vincent Pule scored the second, four minutes later.
This was Pule’s third goal of the campaign, with all of them coming against the same opponent, after he also scored a brace in a 2-2 draw in the Mother City.
During the match, Ndlovu had a head collision with teammate Thabang Monare, which saw the former Bidvest Wits player leaving the pitch early, while Ndlovu soldiered on.
The former Maritzburg United midfielder was named Man-ofthe-Match, and said their accidental collision was just part of the game.
“Whoever comes there has to take the responsibility (to get the ball), because we didn’t want to concede. We only want to win. So, what happened wasn’t on purpose. We...had to fight for the team. Whatever happened, happened, it is a game of football.”
The victory moved Pirates to within five points of Mamelodi Sundowns at the top of the table, though the Tshwane side have two games in hand on the Buccaneers.
Pirates will now turn their attention to the continent and a Caf Confederation Cup first-leg play-off tie against Botswana’s Jwaneng Galaxy at the Botswana National Stadium on Sunday.
Eight-time champion Novak Djokovic was made to sweat at the Australian Open on Wednesday as Serena Williams made serene progress in her bid for a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam title.
Women’s favourite Naomi Osaka also charged through but fellow major winners Stan Wawrinka, Bianca Andreescu and Petra Kvitova were all second-round casualties.
Among the late matches, Aussie crowd-pleaser Nick Kyrgios served underarm, smashed a racquet and rowed with the chair umpire before coming from behind to beat France’s Ugo Humbert in five gripping sets.
Earlier, Djokovic was given a stern examination by American Frances Tiafoe and dropped his first set of the tournament before recovering to win 6-3, 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (7/2), 6-3.
“I was fortunate to get through the third set today, it was anybody’s game,” said the defending champion, after his win in hot condition.
The top seed looked in control after taking the first set, but lightning-quick Tiafoe, who reached the quarterfinals two years ago, refused to go away.
The American bounced back to take a close second set but imploded as tensions rose in the fourth, receiving a code violation for an audible obscenity.
The Serbian is targeting a record-extending ninth title and his 18th Grand Slam trophy overall as he snaps at the heels of Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, who top the all-time list with 20 Slams each.
He avoided the fate of 2014 winner Wawrinka, who blew three match points in the fifth-set tie breaker in his four-hour epic with Marton Fucsovics, who won 7-5, 6-1, 4-6, 2-6, 7-6 (11/9).
“I hesitated a little bit when I had the match point and I lost it,” said the 35-year-old Swiss, a three-time Grand Slam winner.
Osaka, whose three Grand Slam titles include the 2019 Australian crown, had no such trouble in her evening match against France’s Caroline Garcia.
“Last night I had a dream that I lost this match, and I really didn’t feel good about it,” she said after the 6-2, 6-3 win.
Williams, 39, continued her quest to equal Margaret Court’s all-time mark of 24 Grand Slams with a 6-3, 6-0 romp past 99thranked Serbian Nina Stojanovic.
Williams hit 27 winners in her 101st Australian Open match while again sporting her unique, one-legged cat suit inspired by track legend Florence “Flo-Jo” Griffith Joyner.
With Australia virtually virus-free, the tournament is welcoming the biggest Grand Slam crowds since the pandemic, although attendances are well down on previous years.
German sixth seed Alexander Zverev went through in less compelling fashion, grinding past America’s Maxime Cressy 7-5, 6-4, 6-3.
Williams’ elder sister Venus, 40, was among the casualties on day three when she rolled her ankle in the first set against Sara Errani before hobbling to a 6-1, 6-0 defeat.
Dominic Thiem, runner-up to Djokovic last year, beat Germany’s Dominik Koepfer 6-4, 6-0, 6-2. –