United rain supreme in Stoke as stunning strikes from Young and Evra send them through to League Cup Semi-Final.
Manchester United were looking to build on their thumping win over Norwich in the last round of this competition and knock out Stoke City after The Potters had scraped through to the Quarter-Finals on penalties against Birmingham. Mark Hughes' side will have taken confidence though, from the fact that they have never been beaten in a cup tie at home against United- although the red devils had been victorious in the last four meetings between the sides.
Wayne Rooney picked up a groin injury in training that ruled him out of the tie leaving Danny Welbeck to lead the line after his brace against Aston Villa at the weekend. Stoke were still without Robert Huth and Matthew Etherington who missed out with knee and back injuries respectively.
United made the best start of the two teams on a wet and windy night as they created the game's first chance inside the opening three minutes. Young latched on to a through ball from Welbeck but he couldn't keep his shot on target and it went into the side netting. Inside ten minutes Stoke's Cameron then went on a good cross-field run but his shot on the United goal was also off target and sailed over the bar.
United's first shot on target came through Anderson after a good move involving Cleverley and Welbeck. The resulting shot was poor from the Brazilian midfielder who is notorious for his lack of finishing and his effort was collected easily by Sorensen in the Stoke City goal. It was a game of few chances early on and the biggest highlight of the match came when referee Mark Clattenburg stopped the game on 28 minutes due to unplayable weather conditions. The visibility had become very poor due to the amount of hail falling on the pitch and the players were taken back to their dressing rooms until the referee felt it was fit to continue. This meant a 10 minute delay in play that actually served to help the teams regroup as the game seemed to benefit from the stoppage and became a more entertaining display after the re-start.
The away side went close to taking the lead right at the end of the half when Cleverley's corner was flicked on by Smalling and almost allowed Evans to stab the ball home. However, Sorensen was alert to the danger and ensured he got to the ball first to deny the defender a rare goal. United brought on Hernandez for Anderson in a bid to make the breakthrough in the second half and shortly after Welbeck had headed a good chance over the bar, they got the vital goal they needed. Young picked up the ball and played a one-two with Hernandez on the edge of the Stoke box, the England winger then hit a stunning first time shot that swerved over the helpless Sorensen and into the net to give United a deserved lead just after the hour mark.
Stoke tried their best to reply but their best chances came from good crosses that nobody could get contact on, notably a superb one from Pieters on the left that just missed Walters sliding in in the box. United continued to press for the second though and were rewarded when Young, confident from his goal, fed in Evra who had made a lovely run into the box. The Frenchman remained composed, sidestepped an onrushing defender and coolly finished with his right foot into the top right corner of the goal.
Hernandez, who had clearly made an impact from the bench, then had a chance to score yet another goal against The Potters after scoring five goals against them since he arrived in England. However, it wasn't to be as he couldn't make proper contact with the ball after Valencia had drilled in a dangerous cross from the right. The whistle then went that meant United progressed to the Semi-Final after a deserved win that came from two classy second half goals. They will be hoping for more of the same in their two games against Sunderland, their next opponents in the two-legged Semi-Final.
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