After a quiet first 45 minutes, the action exploded in the second half, with goals from Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford, Bruno Fernandes, and Scott McTominay securing victory in M16.
After falling behind twice in the game, Ollie Watkins opened the scoring after the break, and our French forward Martial responded immediately. Diogo Dalot then turned into his own net before Rashford equalised again. Fernandes and McTominay then scored in the final 15 minutes to help Erik ten Hag’s side advance in the competition.
United did have the ball in the net after 17 minutes, as the game started slowly. Fred’s through ball found Rashford in behind the Villans’ backline, and our no.10 raced through before squaring the ball to Fernandes to tap home, with the offside flag raised just moments later on the far side.
A rare Villa attack forced a corner for Erik ten Hag’s side to deal with after failing to pose any real threat to United in the opening exchanges. Douglas Luiz’s in-swinging delivery appeared to catch Martin Dubravka at his near post, but McTominay was the first to react, heading away any potential danger.
Moments later, McTominay cleared Luiz’s second successive corner, before former captain Ashley Young tried his luck from a distance, his strike flying high and wide and thus into the lower section of the Stretford End. Villa took the lead with only two minutes remaining in the second half, when Jacob Ramsey found Ollie Watkins darting in behind our defence and expertly finishing into the net. The Englishman burst through on goal before lifting his effort over our onrushing debutant Dubravka to put us ahead.
However, the Reds were level 19 seconds after the restart, thanks to Martial’s fourth goal of the season. Our no.8 took the ball down superbly after being found in behind, before laying the ball on a plate for Martial to tap home, restoring parity in the game. Villa then retook the lead when Ashley Young’s deep cross was met at the back post by substitute Leon Bailey, with Dalot inadvertently turning the Jamaican’s effort into his own net, leaving United once again facing a comeback.
Rashford almost levelled the score when Malacia picked him out. He twisted and turned inside the visitors’ penalty area before unleashing a right-footed strike that clipped the post and went wide. Our no.10, on the other hand, quickly made amends, with Malacia once again involved. His chipped pass initially found Rashford, who nodded the ball through for Christian Eriksen to run onto. Young’s strong challenge dispossessed the Dane, allowing Rashford to seize the loose ball and smash past Olsen.
With time running out, Malacia’s low cross into the area caused Villa more problems, as he picked out Fernandes in the process. His turn and shot was well saved once more by the tenacious Olsen, who turned the ball away for a corner. Captain Harry Maguire met the resulting set-piece forcefully, and the Swede denied United once more.
But, with 12 minutes left, our reward arrived, as the ever-present Olsen passed the ball to substitute Alejandro Garnacho. The teen turned provider when he found Fernandes, who raced through and fired home our third goal of the night via a deflection. As the game progressed, Ten Hag went to the bench to bring on Casemiro, hoping to regain control of the midfield. However, McTominay put the game out of reach with just seconds remaining, stretching beautifully to tap home Garnacho’s cross, shortly after rattling the bar with a great attempt, as we advanced to the fourth round of the competition.
