FIRST HALF: McTOMINAY BREAKS THROUGH
Both sides started the game with back-and-forth attacks but United took a foothold in the game with Jadon Sancho prominent on the left wing. The England international linked up well with Marcel Sabitzer before the Austrian’s shot took a slight deflection off former United defender Michael Keane to force a corner.
Minutes later, Marcus Rashford had an amazing chance to give Erik ten Hag’s men the lead in front of the Stretford End. After Keane mistimed his header, the in-form forward darted through on goal to go one against one with Pickford, but fired a shot straight at the keeper. Bruno Fernandes picked the ball back up and tried to cross the ball onto Rashford’s head, but the attempt went wide.
The best chance of early openings fell to Aaron Wan-Bissaka, 12 minutes in. Antony received a pass from a Fernandes corner, took one touch and tried to curl the ball past Pickford. The shot cannoned off the post and Wan-Bissaka ran in to get the rebound but the full-back skewed his shot and missed an open net.
The Toffees then managed to get a major opportunity to grab the lead, Dwight McNeil and Ellis Simms played a great one-two combination, before Simms found himself unmarked against David De Gea. The former Blackpool and Sunderland striker opted to sidefoot the ball, but the shot rolled past the far post.
United carved out a flurry of opportunities to try and take the lead. Antony got the better of Ben Godfrey on two occasions, the first he fired his shot straight at Pickford and the second time around, the Everton full-back did enough to get back into position to stop the Brazil winger. Moments later, Rashford managed to latch on to a McTominay pass and his shot again was prevented by Pickford.
But at last the goal came for United through McTominay. The midfielder who had an incredible international break, scoring four goals for Scotland in two games started the attack with Rashford, linking up with short and quick passes, before Rashford slid the ball to Sancho on the right hand side. Sancho managed to see McTominay’s darting run into the box and he produced a first-time shot to blast the ball past Pickford give Erik ten Hag’s side the lead in front of the Stretford End.
Pickford remained inspired though, keeping out Antony again, as it remained at only 1-0 when the half-time whistle sounded.
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