When Scott McTominay, the Scotland midfielder, captaining his side for the first time, bounced a header into the roof of the net just five minutes into the third-round tie at Old Trafford, we all assumed that the floodgates would open and we would be in for a high score match. However ultimately that one goal was to be the only difference between the two sides. True that the United manager had to make nine changes after the midweek League Cup semi-final loss to Manchester City, and due to a busy week of Premier League action coming up with key games at Burnley and Liverpool on the agenda.
My Man of the Match is Scott McTominay. The 24-year-old not only scored the winner but showed his ability to read danger and snuff out visiting attacks. He was impressive in defense, especially when Eric Bailly was forced off with a head injury just before half-time. Considering also that he coped well with the pressure of wearing the captain’s armband for the first time in his United career, until he graciously ‘returned’ the armband to Maguire when the latter substituted Eric at the end of the half. The player has now scored four goals in all competitions this season, one short of his best tally in a single campaign (five goals last season).
United have won this competition on 12 occasions, the last of which was in 2016. We now look forward to Monday’s fourth and fifth-round draws to see who are next opponents will be.
Article contributed by Contributor Kenneth. Comments are appreciated on our Facebook page.