Marcus Rashford kept up his impressive scoring pace as his two goals in stoppage time gave Manchester United a 3-0 Carabao Cup quarterfinal win over Charlton of the Sky Bet League One.
After Antony’s first-half goal gave United the lead, Rashford scored twice in stoppage time to end the game. This was his sixth consecutive encounter with a goal.
As of early November, it was their eighth straight victory, and they secured a spot in their third League Cup semifinal in four years.
Erik ten Hag, a demanding manager, won’t be lavishing praise after this performance, either, as his drastically altered team was pushed hard at Old Trafford by the third-tier Addicks.
In fact, they weren’t able to secure their triumph at the very end until Ten Hag had added big guns Rashford, Casemiro, and Christian Eriksen.
Although they have won eight of their last twelve games and 11 of their last 12, they will face a considerably tougher test on Saturday when they face off in the Manchester derby.
The Addicks, managed by diehard United fan Dean Holden, can take pride in their performance and as they now concentrate on mounting a League One play-off push in the second half of the season.
It might have been even more convincing for the hosts had they taken one of the early chances that the prodigious talent Alejandro Garnacho created.
The Spaniard made an opening for Diogo Dalot after cutting inside from the byline, but the defender blazed over from a good position.
Garnacho then twice tried to go on his own as he had his marker Sean Clare on toast, first cutting in and then fizzing a shot just wide before a jinking run into the penalty area ended with him dragging a shot wide.
But it was from the right where United forged their 21st-minute opener.
They worked the ball well out to Antony, who made space on his preferred left foot and then sent a curling effort past Ashley Maynard-Brewer and into the top corner.
The hosts were within inches of doubling their lead 10 minutes before the break when Fred’s 30-yard free-kick crashed into a post, with Maynard-Brewer a bystander.
Charlton, roared on by 10,000 travelling supporters, had battled hard and enjoyed their best period of the game heading into the interval as Albie Morgan whipped a free-kick wide and then Tom Heaton had to claim Clare’s low cross with Corey Blackett-Taylor waiting to pounce.
They started the second half strongly as well and their golden opportunity came 76 seconds after the restart as Scott Fraser latched on to Miles Leaburn’s flick-on but put his left-footed shot over.
Anthony Elanga had a goal ruled out for a clear offside but it was Charlton who continued to press their illustrious hosts and, such was their impact, Ten Hag introduced Rashford, Casemiro and Eriksen on the hour mark.
That experienced trio helped United gain control of the match and they created some chances to kill the game off as Garnacho brought a flying save from Maynard-Brewer, who also got down low to keep out Eriksen’s effort.
United eventually got the second that made the game safe in the 90th minute as debutant Facundo Pellistri teed up Rashford and the in-form forward added a second after being played through by Casemiro.