Manchester United survived a scare against third tier Preston North End to reach the FA Cup quarter-finals with a hard-fought 3-1 win at Deepdale on Monday.
Louis Van Gaal’s star-studded side were in danger of an embarrassing fifth-round exit when the unheralded hosts took a shock lead early in the second half through Scott Laird.
Not for the first time this season, United lacked cohesion for long periods of the game, but they responded to the indignity of Laird’s goal with enough composure to finally subdue the underdogs.
Photo: AFP
Ander Herrera’s fortuitous strike leveled the scores just after the hour mark, before Marouane Fellaini put United ahead after 72 minutes.
Wayne Rooney made the tie safe with a late penalty to set up a fascinating last eight tie at home to Arsenal on the weekend of March 7 and 8.
“I was reasonably satisfied. The fights between Kevin Davies and the defenders were difficult, but we didn’t give anything away,” Van Gaal said. “Preston’s goal was a little bit unlucky, but we showed an unbelievable team spirit. We changed the shape and that was the solution. We scored fantastic goals. I liked the second goal a lot, we have trained that a lot.”
There was little sign of inferiority from Preston in the first half as they acquitted themselves well, just as Yeovil and Cambridge, United’s lower league opponents in the previous two rounds, had also refused to buckle against supposedly superior rivals.
One criticism leveled at United under van Gaal is a lack of panache in attack and the trait was evident in the first half as Grayson’s team kept them at bay.
Angel di Maria’s dipping free-kick went wide after John Welsh’s heavy challenge on Radamel Falcao 25m out and that was about as close as the visitors came to troubling Preston goalkeeper Thorsten Stuckmann before the break.
Promising moments ended when Rooney and Daley Blind overhit final passes, much to the delight of the home fans.
Preston’s players were also encouraged and they enjoyed attacking flurries of their own.
Joe Garner, Preston’s top scorer with 14 goals, hit a low shot straight at David de Gea before heading over from Paul Gallagher’s inswinging free-kick.
No team has won this competition more times than United, but their 11th and most-recent triumph came in 2004, and none of the current squad has won the Cup during their time at Old Trafford.
Yet Preston reached halftime with relative comfort and things got even better two minutes after the break when they took the lead.
Garner’s pass found Laird overlapping from left-wing back and his shot hit Antonio Valencia’s outstretched leg and squirmed past De Gea in off the far post.
Van Gaal waited until the hour mark to make the tactical change that shifted the momentum of the tie.
Falcao was again ineffective and he made way for Ashley Young. Five minutes later, Young set up Herrera whose shot under pressure from near the edge of the area beat Stuckmann.
Fellaini who had been deployed in an advanced midfield role moved further forward and it paid dividends as United took the lead.
The Belgian saw his header from Valencia’s cross blocked by Stuckmann, but the North End goalkeeper was powerless to prevent Fellaini from sweeping the loose ball home from inside the six yard box.
Kyel Reid was one of three substitutes brought on by Preston in response to United’s second goal and he saw a snap-shot from the edge of the area flash wide.
Preston’s already faint hopes of reaching the last eight were extinguished with two minutes remaining.
Stuckmann came racing out of his goal in an attempt to reach a through ball, but Rooney got there before him and went down under the challenge.
The goalkeeper was booked and his next action was to pick the ball out of the net after Rooney lashed home the penalty.
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