Manchester United 1-0 Watford: Scott McTominay’s early header books FA Cup Fourth Round place
Semi-finals may continue to be a stumbling block for Manchester United, but the third round certainly isn’t.
Victory over Watford at Old Trafford last night saw United safely over the first hurdle in the FA Cup for the 34th time in 36 attempts. Only Leeds United and Swansea City have been able to interrupt the winning sequence.
It wasn’t a classic by any stretch. Nor would it be true to say United were comfortable after Scott McTominay put them ahead in the fifth minute.
Scott McTominay scored the decisive goal for Manchester United as they overcame Watford 1-0 in the FA Cup Third Round
The captain for the night rose highest to head United into an early lead and it proved to be the winning goal at Old Trafford
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will be pleased as his side saw off a good showing by the Championship side in a narrow victory
Watford, a team lying sixth in the Championship table, ran a weakened United close despite making seven changes themselves.
Considering their last game against Premier League opposition in this tournament ended with a 6-0 defeat to Manchester City in the 2019 Cup Final, it was a big improvement.
Three days after seeing his team beaten by City in what was their fourth consecutive semi-final defeat in a year, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was as happy with the result as he was to have an opportunity to rest key players – notably Bruno Fernandes – ahead of Tuesday’s trip to Burnley and next weekend’s top-of-the table clash with Liverpool at Anfield.
He revealed that Paul Pogba, Luke Shaw and Victor Lindelof missed this game through injury, and Eric Bailly is now a doubt after walking off rather unsteadily before half-time following a collision with goalkeeper Dean Henderson.
Solskjaer made several chamges for the cup game as Mason Greenwood, Brandon Williams and Dan James all started
Eric Bailly was forced off at the end of the first half after colliding with United keeper Dean Henderson in the air
‘He got a good whack and his neck is sore,’ said Solskjaer. ‘Hopefully it’s only a muscle injury. I don’t think it was concussion so that is a positive, but we’ve got to do scans. Fingers crossed he won’t be out for too long.
‘We started brightly, played nice football and got the first goal. After 20 minutes, the balloon popped and they came into it and gave us a good game.
‘I expected it to be the other way round but we lost our shape.’
Solskjaer made a total of nine changes, giving starts to Donny van de Beek, Jesse Lingard and Juan Mata. He also handed the captain’s armband to Scott McTominay to ‘test’ the young Scotland midfielder, and got his answer inside five minutes.
Dan James forced goalkeeper Daniel Bachmann to tip his effort over the bar, and Alex Telles sent over a corner from the left. McTominay stole in ahead of Adam Masina to meet it with a downward header which bounced once and went in off the inside of the post.
United made a bright start to the game but were unable to build on the early goal with Bailly flashing a header wide
New manager Xisco Munoz saw his side make a good account of themselves at Old Trafford despite going down early on
Debutant Phillip Zinckernagel (right) was part of a threatening showing from the Hornets throughout the game
‘I have to score more headers – I’m six foot three!’ said the stand-in skipper.
‘When the manager told me, it was a surreal moment. I’ve been here since I was five-years-old. I love this football club, it’s been my whole life and it was a real honour for me.’
Watford clearly didn’t learn their lesson from the goal because Bailly headed inches wide from another Telles corner after Franciso Sierralta blocked Mata’s shot shortly afterwards.
But that was as close as United went to went to extending their lead until the 43rd minute when Van de Beek sent Mata clear on goal with a lovely flick and Bachmann rushed out to make a fine block.
In between, Watford grew in confidence and would not have been flattered with an equaliser.
The Championship side almost got one in the 15th minute when Henderson had to spread himself to block Masina’s first-time effort after Will Hughes’ free kick had been flicked on.
United’s No.2 then found himself stranded when Ismaila Sarr burst past Telles onto Joao Pedro’s pass and hooked an effort towards the empty goal.
Sarr, linked with a move to United in September, looked particularly keen to impress. One surging run upfield took him past several United players, and he was booked for chasing back a little too enthusiastically to tackle Lingard.
Both he and Philip Zinckernagel had shots blocked in a 32nd minute scramble that ended with Watford appealing for a penalty for handball against Bailly.
The United defender was forced off after taking a knee to the head from Henderson, forcing Solskjaer to summon Harry Maguire from the bench before half-time.
Marcus Rashford was brought on to see the game out and forced a save form Daniel Bachmann after a long, mazy run
The Red Devils were able to see the game out with relative ease and Solskjaer sees his side stay alive in bid for first trophy
Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial followed in the second half, then Nemanja Matic. One man who didn’t off the bench was Odion Ighalo, the former Watford player hoping to make a final appearance against old club before going back to Shanghai Shenhua at the end of this month.
The changes made little difference and the second half drifted somewhat with Watford unable to create any real chances for an equaliser.
Xisco Munoz, taking charge of only his third game, was happy with the effort of his players.
‘I am proud of them,’ he said. ‘They worked very hard, they pressed and we had a good performance.
‘Today is the first step. I have had a little time here and we need to continue work.’
Relive all the action as it happened with Sportmail’s CIAN CHEESBROUGH below.
