The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Mata nets winner as United see off Wolves
FA CUP: Injury concerns over Rashford mar Old Trafford replay victory
MANCHESTER UNITED 1 WOLVES 0
Juan Mata’s second-half strike saw Manchester United advance to the FA Cup fourth round but their victory over Wolves was soured by an injury scare to Marcus Rashford at Old Trafford.
Mata skilfully lifted the ball over Norwich goalkeeper John Ruddy midway through the second half but, four days before a visit to Premier League leaders Liverpool, Rashford then hobbled off barely 15 minutes after coming off the bench.
The England forward clutched his back as he made his way towards the tunnel in the 80th minute, putting a dampener on an evening where United had to occasionally ride their luck to set up a clash with either Watford or Tranmere.
Pedro Neto had a goal ruled out because of Raul Jimenez’s inadvertent handball before providing the assist early on in this third round reply while Matt Doherty headed against the post.
But United, who failed to muster a shot on target in the 0-0 draw at Molineux 10 days ago for the first time since January 2015, largely bossed the second half and probably deserved to shade the contest.
The winner came when a routine ball forward to the halfway line caused havoc in Wolves’ back-line with Anthony Martial freeing Mata down the centre.
The Spaniard went clean through on goal and held his nerve to exquisitely chip over the advancing Ruddy.
Mata told BT Sport: “They are a difficult team, they play in a certain way and they do it very well. They are very organised and they are hard to break down.
“It is a good result for us, we have had a good couple of days and now we have a big one coming (Liverpool on Sunday) so hopefully we can carry on.”
United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer admitted bringing Rashford on proved costly.
He said: “That backfired but you have to go for them once in a while, it seems like he has got a knock there and he couldn’t run.
“Let’s test him in the next couple of days. Hopefully he will be OK for Sunday, I don’t know.”
Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo said: “I am disappointed to go out. We did well, we played well but we do not go to the next round, which is the only disappointment.”
On the disallowed goal, Nuno said: “That’s VAR, that’s VAR. We cannot do anything. The momentum, we celebrate then the other celebration was louder.
“We are celebrating non-goals, it does not make sense.”
Cardiff earned a fourth-round visit to Reading after edging out Carlisle 4-3 in a storming replay at Brunton Park.
The Championship side were made to fight all the way by a Carlisle team that has been struggling in the lower reaches of League Two for most of the season.
Aden Flint and Josh Murphy replied to an early Nathan Thomas strike to give City a half-time lead.
Flint got his second and Danny Ward also netted while Harry McKirdy was twice on target for Carlisle.