Wasteful Man Utd Scrape Past Coventry Into FA Cup Final

After blowing a three-goal lead, Manchester United had to fight their way through to the FA Cup final against Coventry City on penalties.

The teams were tied at 3-3 after extra time, but Rasmus Hojlund's spot shot proved to be the game-winning goal as Erik ten Hag's team emerged victorious in the shootout at Wembley 4-2.

For Ten Hag's team, which is considerably behind the pace in the Premier League and had a forgettable Champions League campaign, the match perfectly captured a disorganised season.

With goals from Scott McTominay, Harry Maguire, and Bruno Fernandes, United cruised to a 3-0 lead against their lower-division rivals in the London sunlight, giving no indication of what was to come.

However, they have been guilty of blowing leads in recent weeks, and the game against Coventry was no exception.
Ellis Simms and Callum O'Hare's goals in the second half gave the 1987 FA Cup champions hope, and Haji Wright's penalty kick in the 95th minute completed an unlikely comeback.

Coventry supporters filled the massed lines of blue-clad supporters with belief as they taunted Ten Hag with chants of "you're getting sacked in the morning."

Famously, Coventry manager Mark Robins was a major factor in United's 1990 FA Cup final victory, which marked the beginning of two decades of glory under Alex Ferguson.
Despite United's lacklustre season, his team's hopes of making it to the Championship play-offs had waned in recent weeks, and they went into the match as underdogs.

United rule the pitch.

United, the competition's twelve-time winners, settled in quickly and took the lead in the twenty-third minute following a brilliant play down the right.

Alejandro Garnacho found the overlapping Diogo Dalot, whose cross was touched in by McTominay from close range after it passed under Bradley Collins's diving body.
Late in the first half, Marcus Rashford forced a superb save from Collins, but United increased their lead from the next corner, as Maguire headed home Fernandes' cross.
Despite defeating Premier League Wolves twice in stoppage time, Coventry found it difficult to create momentum against a well-organized United squad.

In the first moments of the second half, they appeared more radiant.

However, in the 58th minute, Fernandes's strike beat Collins after deflecting off defender Bobby Thomas, taking the wind out of their sails.

Coventry kept trying, and while O'Hare headed over from an angle, they were able to equalise when top scorer Ellis Simms connected with a cross from substitute Fabio Tavares in the 71st minute, following a lapse in United's defence.

When O'Hare's shot from just beyond the box rebounded off Aaron Wan-Bissaka's back and over Onana in the 79th minute, they went up 3-2.

As Coventry launched waves of attacks, the supporters were now raising their voices.

Replace With five minutes remaining in normal time, Victor Torp struck a hard shot from the outside of the area, causing Onana to make a quick save.

However, Coventry was not yet done.

Wright scored from the penalty spot after Wan-Bissaka was found to have handled in the penalty area, sending the game into overtime.

Despite ten extended minutes of stoppage time, Coventry appeared to be the more likely winners.

In the fourth minute of extra time, United captain Fernandes struck the crossbar after being set up by replacement Amad Diallo.

Then, with time running out, Simms crashed a shot off the underside of the crossbar.

When Torp pushed the ball past Andre Onana in the final seconds, Coventry believed they had won, but a VAR check determined that Wright was just barely offside.

When Collins saved Casemiro's shoddy penalty kick, the Championship team took the lead in the shootout.

However, O'Hare and captain Ben Sheaf were unable to score, thus Hojlund was left to ensure that United advanced, and he did so flawlessly.

On Saturday, Manchester City defeated Chelsea 1-0 in the other semifinal.