Utd do it the hard way
FA CUP: BLOW THREE-GOAL LEAD BEFORE BEATING COVENTRY ON PENALTIES
Manchester United overcame an astonishing collapse to beat Coventry on penalties in an FA Cup classic yesterday, setting up a second straight FA Cup final against Manchester City.
Erik ten Hag’s men won the shootout at Wembley 4-2, with Rasmus Hojlund scoring the decisive spot kick after the teams were level at 3-3 after extra-time.
The game perfectly encapsulated a chaotic season for Ten Hag’s men, who are well off the pace in the Premier League and had a Champions League campaign to forget.
There was no hint of what was to come when United coasted into a 3-0 lead against their second-tier opponents in the London sunshine, with goals from Scott McTominay, Harry Maguire and Bruno Fernandes.
But they have made a habit of tossing away leads in recent weeks and the match against Coventry proved no different.
Second-half strikes from Ellis Simms and Callum O’Hare gave the 1987 FA Cup winners hope and Haji Wright levelled from the penalty spot in the 95th minute, capping a scarcely credible comeback.
Coventry fans taunted Ten Hag with chants of “you’re getting sacked in the morning” as belief infused the massed ranks of supporters clad in blue.
Coventry manager Mark Robins famously played a key part in United’s FA Cup final win in 1990, a victory that launched two decades of success under Alex Ferguson.
But his team’s push to reach the Championship play-offs has faded in recent weeks and they travelled to Wembley as underdogs despite United’s stuttering season.
United, 12-time winners of the competition, settled early and took the lead in the 23rd minute after a fine move down the right.
Alejandro Garnacho fed the overlapping Diogo Dalot, whose cross went under the hands of the diving Bradley Collins and was tapped in by McTominay from close range.
Marcus Rashford forced a fine save from Collins late in the first half but United doubled their lead from the resulting corner, with Maguire heading home from Fernandes’ cross.
Coventry looked brighter in the early stages of the second-half but the wind was taken out of their sails when Fernandes’ shot found its way past Collins in the 58th minute, courtesy of a deflection off defender Bobby Thomas.
Coventry pulled a goal back via top-scorer Ellis Simms in the 71st minute after United’s defence switched off.
They made it 3-2 in the 79th minute when O’Hare’s shot from just outside the box looped off Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s back and over Onana.
Wan-Bissaka was adjudged to have handled in the penalty area and Wright scored from the spot to force extra time. –