In 1990, a young local striker who had come from Manchester United’s youth system scored a second half goal in a difficult FA Cup away match against top-flight opponents which would save his under pressure manager. Mark Robins was the hero at Nottingham Forest when a result was least expected in January 1990.
A troubled, out of form United side would go onto win the trophy that season, easing the pressure on Alex Ferguson who would remain in charge for the next 23 years, winning everything there was to win.
In April 2016, another young local striker who had come from United’s youth system scored another vital goal in a difficult FA Cup away match against top-flight opponents. He, too, had the initials ‘MR’ and the second half goal which gave United the lead in the 6th round replay — the final ever FA Cup game at the Boleyn Ground — brought relief and celebration from another huge away following.
In January 1990, 7,000 United fans had travelled to the City Ground, most in hope rather than expectation. In London’s East End on Wednesday night, 5,000 United fans made the long journey south in a similar state of mind.
The first 15 minutes of the game justified their nerves. West Ham were so superior and found so much space behind United’s defenders that an opening goal seemed inevitable. They were backed by a hugely vocal crowd on what they hoped would be a last great FA Cup tie before they move three miles to London’s Olympic Stadium. It was, but the result was not what the home fans were hoping for.
A rainbow appeared over the old ground’s tiny but legendary Chicken Run stand midway through the first half, with the red of Manchester one end of the spectrum and the claret of West Ham at the other.
United began to assert themselves, Marouane Fellaini breaking up play in an unorthodox midfield role behind Marcus Rashford. United’s young front three of Rashford, Antony Martial and Jesse Lingard were full of pace and poise as they attacked in the heavy rain which briefly followed.
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Louis van Gaal’s low scoring side had played well enough in the first half at Tottenham on Sunday, only to lose the game 3-0 after a late capitulation. Against West Ham, United finished the first half strongly and began the second even stronger as they attacked towards their raucous visiting fans.
It’s still less than two months since Rashford made his United debut, but since then he’s scored key goals against Midtjylland, Arsenal, Manchester City and now West Ham in his biggest match so far. All relieved the pressure on Van Gaal, all helped keep belief in United’s season going for just a little bit longer. The quiet Mancunian, who still attends school two days per week, is fast, fearless and instinctive in front of goal. His strike 54 minutes into the game at West Ham was not only important, it was his best goal technically. He took a ball from Martial, dropped his shoulder and curled the ball into the top right hand corner beyond Darren Randolph for his sixth goal in 11 matches. Van Gaal was watching closely.
“It was a great goal,” the United manager said. “I was behind him on the bench and saw the view, the gap and the corner and I shouted: ‘Shoot!’ but to do it is much more difficult. It was a great goal and a great dribble. I say he always needs to dribble and shoot, he has that quality.”
Fellaini added the second after 67 minutes before James Tomkins headed in an Andy Carroll set up after 79 minutes to potentially give this epic cup tie a dramatic late finish, but United held on, with Van Gaal effusive about his team and his young striker.
“He’s very focused on his work and that I admire when you are so young and there is so much attention now,” he said. “He is scoring so many important goals but he can cope with that attention and focus.
“When you have criticism he can cope with criticism also, he can say: ‘Yes, manager, you are right and I have to do that.’ I think it’s fantastic because not a lot of players can see their self-image in a match.”
United, the 11 times FA Cup winners who have not won the competition since 2004, are through to a first FA Cup semi-final since 2011 when they were defeated by Manchester City. In 2009, they reached the semi-final stage where they met Everton at Wembley, a wretched 0-0 game which Everton won 4-2 on penalties.
Then, United were English, European and World champions on the way to another Premier League title and another European Cup final. The FA Cup had become a secondary competition and Ferguson fielded a weakened side full of fringe players.
Fans were not too troubled when Ferguson’s side were eliminated, for their team had bigger fish to fry. Not now. The competition which saved Ferguson is one Van Gaal has been desperate to win ever since a league title seemed implausible. When he was asked about European League success, Van Gaal said the FA Cup was the one he preferred. He has now taken his team to Wembley to meet a team United have already beaten twice this season.
There’s a month until the end of a season which could have been over by now. Instead, fans are busy applying for the 31,606 tickets that the team have been allocated for the Wembley match a week on Saturday. Van Gaal’s side have been knocked down many times, but they are still not out.
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