Man Utd 1-1 Fulham (3-4 on pens)

A penalty shoot-out was needed to separate Fulham and Manchester United in the Fifth Round of the Emirates FA Cup on Sunday.

After drawing 1-1 after 90 minutes and extra-time, the tie went to spot-kicks, with Bernd Leno making two saves to claim a 4-3 victory for his side, and the Quarter-Final berth that came with it.

Much earlier in the day, Calvin Bassey had headed his side into the lead at the end of the first half, getting on the end of a clever Rodrigo Muniz flick at a corner.

But Bruno Fernandes’ crisp strike midway through the second period restored parity, and that was the way it stayed until the 120 minutes were up, leading to the shootout.

Marco Silva reverted to a back four and made three changes to the side that started the win over Wolves in midweek, with Antonee Robinson returning to captain the side, along with recalls for Bassey and Alex Iwobi. Emile Smith Rowe was back on the bench after missing the Molineux victory.

The first save of the afternoon was a Leno one on 12 minutes, as he took no chances with Fernandes’ shot from the edge of the box, pushing it to one side after it bounced just before reaching him.

Rasmus Højlund was then presented with a decent sight of goal after peeling off Bassey to connect with Christian Eriksen’s low cross, but the Fulham man recovered sufficiently to put offput Højlund who sliced wide.

Eriksen went himself on 17 minutes, curling a good strike towards the postage stamp as United kept the pressure on, but Leno was able to beat it away on the stretch.

We had to wait until the 26^th minute for our first efforts on goal, with a Saša Lukić free-kick blocked and Robinson’s long range follow-up flying over.

The boys went much closer on 38 minutes, though, as a lovely clipped cross from Iwobi picked out the run of Lukić who had ghosted in between Leny Yoro and Diogo Dalot, but unfortunately couldn’t get over the ball and his header cleared the crossbar.

Five minutes before the break, Joshua Zirkzee’s outstretched leg managed to beat Bassey’s head to a good Fernandes delivery, but the angle was against him and it dropped wide of the near post.

As we entered one minute of added time, Fulham opened the scoring with impeccable timing, executing a set-piece regime perfectly. Muniz flicked Andreas Pereira’s corner on towards the far post where Bassey had escaped his man to power home a header.

The opening quarter of an hour of the second half was a low-key affair, with an injury to Adama Traoré the main incident of note, other than a tame Noussair Mazraoui header that was straight at Leno.

Fernandes made the Fulham number one work harder on 62 minutes with a firm effort from 20 yards, but again Leno was equal to it.

Smith Rowe was the man who had been brought on for Adama, and he almost doubled our lead with an accurate strike from the edge of the box, but Andre Onana just about managed to keep it out at full stretch.

Muniz had already made one telling contribution with his head, and another gigantic leap sent Andreas haring towards goal. He skipped beyond Victor Lindelof easily enough, but a thumping last ditch tackle from Matthijs de Ligt denied him a shot.

It had been a good spell for the Whites, but United then went up the other end to restore parity, with Fernandes sweeping a precise first time effort with his left foot into the bottom corner, after Dalot had picked him out with a cutback.

A brilliant lofted Iwobi pass then picked out the forward run of Muniz who brought it down well, but Harry Maguire managed to poke it behind for a corner before he could pull the trigger for surely a certain goal. Joachim Andersen then headed over from the subsequent set-piece.

As we approached the final 10, Alejandro Garnacho and Andreas each tried their luck from distance, but Leno made the save and Andreas fired over.

Midway through eight minutes of stoppage time, another pinpoint Smith Rowe effort into the bottom left looked to have won it as he connected sweetly with Iwobi’s pass, but again Onana was able to tip it away.

Remarkably, there was still time for three more United chances, too, as substitute Chido Obi sent two efforts wide, either side of a Garnacho shot which Leno got down smartly to.

Fulham bossed possession in the opening stages of extra-time, but conceded the first chance when Garnacho’s pace allowed him to get onto the end of a high Zirkzee pass, but he lashed his effort into the side-netting.

United wanted a penalty when Obi went down under an Andersen challenge in the box, but in reality the Fulham defender timed his tackle impeccably to win the ball.

The 17-year-old Reds forward had been lively since his introduction, next drawing an excellent reaction stop from Leno in stoppage time at the end of the first period.

Coming on for Iwobi, it was a new position for Ryan Sessegnon on the right wing when he was introduced, but he quickly utilised that inside forward role, chopping back on Dalot and smashing a shot on target that Onana saved well.

With no more chances forthcoming, penalties beckoned. Victor Lindelof was first to miss, after Fernandes, Raúl Jiménez, Dalot, Sander Berge, Casemiro and Willian had all bagged, and Robinson capitalised with calmness personified.

After denying Lindelof, Leno grabbed his second save of the shootout when he dived to his left to keep out Zirkzee’s kick, sending the travelling fans at the other end of the ground into delirium, and setting up a Quarter-Final showdown with Crystal Palace at Craven Cottage.