MATCH REPORT: DERBY 1 UNITED
3
Emirates FA Cup Fourth Round | 29 January 2016 |
iPro Stadium | Attendance: 31,134 |
Scorers: Rooney
16, Blind 65, Mata 83; Thorne 37
Manchester United progressed to the fifth round of
the Emirates FA Cup with an entertaining victory
over Derby County at a wintry iPro Stadium on
Friday night.
Wayne Rooney gave the Reds the lead with a
wonderful early goal – his sixth strike in as many
games – but Derby equalised against the run of
play before half-time through George Thorne.
However, Louis van Gaal’s side, who dominated
much of the game, were not to be deterred and
Daley Blind netted smartly midway through the
second half, before Juan Mata added a late third to
secure United’s place in Sunday’s draw.
Van Gaal made two changes to the side that
started against Southampton last weekend, with
Guillermo Varela coming in for Matteo Darmian and
Mata replacing Ander Herrera. A deafening roar
greeted kick-off, with 5,471 noisy visiting fans –
United’s biggest away end of the season – more
than playing their part, as they proceeded to roll
through a traditional repertoire that included a
tribute to Nemanja Vidic following the Serbian’s
retirement.
In a bright start by the Reds, Anthony Martial had a
good early chance, firing over from just inside the
box. But it didn’t take much longer for the Reds to
open the scoring – and in superb fashion, as
Rooney cut inside to bend a shot into the far
corner just after the quarter-hour mark.
With the Championship promotion-chasers
seemingly content to sit back and grant United
possession, van Gaal’s sharp-looking side continued
to probe and Martial narrowly failed to control a
return pass from Rooney that would have left the
Frenchman one-on-one with goalkeeper Scott
Carson.
The Reds were utterly in control but, eight minutes
before the break, Derby equalised out of the blue,
as midfielder Thorne ran onto a neat ball over the
top to slot past David De Gea.
Back came United and, after skipping past Thorne
on the left, Martial crossed towards Rooney but
Stephen Warnock did well to get to the ball ahead
of his opposing captain. At the other end, Chris
Smalling made an excellent last-ditch tackle on the
Rams’ top scorer, Chris Martin, and the sides went
in level at the break.
HALF-TIME STATISTICS
Possession : Derby 33% United 67%
Shots at goal : Derby 4 United 6
Shots on target: Derby 3 United 2
Corners: Derby 1 United 3
The Reds started the second half on the front foot
and the ever-dangerous Martial ghosted past his
marker on the left but couldn’t pick out a red shirt
with his cross. Nick Blackman then curled over a
powerful effort after a swift attack as Derby
showed they were still a threat on the break.
Just before the hour-mark, Mata came within a
whisker of restoring United’s lead as he headed
Jesse Lingard’s deflected cross narrowly wide,
before Marouane Fellaini could only head a corner
straight at Carson.
With the away end still making a terrific noise,
United continued to carve out openings and Blind
charged forward from centre-back to apply a
brilliant first-time finish to Lingard’s cross and put
the visitors back ahead.
That goal seemed to deflate Paul Clements’ side
and Mata killed the game off with a late third, a
simple finish after Martial had beaten his man for
the umpteenth time down the left. Job done – the
quest to reach Wembley goes on.
FULL-TIME STATISTICS
Possession: Derby 40% United 60%
Shots at goal: Derby 7 United 13
Shots on target: Derby 3 United 5
Corners: Derby 6 United 5
THE TEAMS
United: De Gea, Varela, Smalling, Blind, Borthwick-
Jackson, Fellaini, Schneiderlin (Carrick 74), Lingard,
Mata (Herrera 84), Martial, Rooney.
Subs not used: Romero, McNair, Januzaj, Pereira,
Memphis.
Derby: Carson, Christie, Keogh, Martin, Shackell,
Johnson (Hendrick 77), Butterfield, Blackman
(Camara 59), Ince, Thorne (Russell 77), Warnock.
Subs not used: Grant, Bryson, Baird, Olsson.
Booked: Warnock
MATCH REACTION
Van Gaal : "We dared to play again and, in spite of
Derby's pressure in the second half, we created
chances and we scored some fantastic goals. I am
very happy."
Mata: "We did what we have to do every game. We
were quicker, we created chances and tried to play
in a positive way."
Blind : “Of course a win is always a boost but you
have to take it game by game and step by step.
There is an important game on Tuesday coming up.
We have to move on from this and keep the
confidence up.”
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