Manchester United vs Brighton & Hove Albion Live Score and Commentary, FA Cup 2017-18 quarterfinals

PEEP! PEEP! PEEEEEEEEEEEP! FULL TIME

MANCHESTER UNITED 2 - 0 BRIGHTON & HOVE ALBION

A professional display from United, powered by the excellent Nemanja Matic, saw off Brighton's challenge and onto the semifinals march the Reds.

That's all from me, Anirudh Menon, thank you for reading!

Toodle-ooo

93' That one, from twenty-five yards is a lot better, but Romero fields it comfortably enough

92' OOOO! Nice that from Gross as he sends Bailly away to the wrong fire with a Cruyffian turn inside the box, but the turn throws him off balance too and his shot lacks the kind of power and direction that could have threatened Romero.

91' Three minutes to be added on as Brighton chase an unlikely consolation.

90' Rashford shoulders Schelotto away before adding to the Argentine-Italians pain by nutmegging him. He tries to tee up Lukaku, but it's cut away by Dunk. The ball comes back to the big Belgian soon enough, though, and he tries to set up Martial - Duffy's alive to it and snuffs out the threat.

89' Young's fine by the by. Of course he is.

88' Mourinho's not letting Pogba or Sanchez catch a cold. He takes off Lingard but instead of his superstars, he sends on that master of closing games down, Marouane Fellaini

87' That one, though, is cleared away well by a combination of Rashord, Lingard, and Young. Worryingly for United, though, it looks like Young twisted his ankle in the process! As his medical team attends to Young, Mourinho shares a laugh with Schelotto.

86' Locadia makes Valencia's life rather hard as the captain tried to control an awkward back pass from McTominay - and wins a corner. From which, they win another one

Wah! So simple, so lovely. Rashford won a foul, Young took the freekick - floating it into the far post where Matic escapes the attentions of his marker and nods a simple, uncomplicated, header across goal and into the back of the net.

That should be that.

83' GOOOOOOOOOOOOAL! NEMANJA MATIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIC!

81' As Brighton launch themselves forward, United go deeper and deeper into their shell, inviting trouble on. Said trouble almost arrives in the form of a flat, hammered, Dunk cross... but it's got way too much ooomph on it to really trouble anyone in red.

79' Out on the field Rashford whips in a lovely ball that Lingard tries to flick onto Lukaku, but can only find Suttner with.

78' As they watch Gross sweep a crossfield ball hopelessly off target,, Mourinho and Hughton have a fair exchange of views on the touchline. Looked friendly initially, a lot frostier toward the end.

77' Martial's been moved on to the right and having been challenged up by Kayal they get a bit fired up. Lukaku steps in, a man-mountain who simply stops the drama before it escalates by being too big to shout around.

76' Albion are getting their big guns out. Glen Murray replaces the hard-working Ulloa - Smalling and Bailly will have something different to deal with for the last quarter.

75' Kayal has a pop from miles out. It's not a good one. Let's not talk about it.

74' Substitution for United as the excellent Juan Mata is taken off for Marcus Rashford. Old Trafford warmly applauds that absolute gent of a footballer off the pitch.

72' Smalling dinks a hopeful ball forward and Lukaku runs on to it, breezes past Duffy and plays in a ball into the box that's cleared well. It comes back via Mata, who got it off, you guessed it, Matic - but once again Dunk clears well.

70' Brighton are all over United at the moment - Locadia doing well to cut in from the left, take out Bailly, and take a shot; but Smalling's there to cover for his partner and blocks well. On the touchline, Rashford's readying himself.

69' Izquierdo does brilliantly to play off Gross and get in behind Smalling but his ball into the box is cut out by Matic. Locadia then sends a superb ball into the six-yard box and Smalling does brilliantly to nip it off the toes of Ulloa. THe ball bounces out to Izquierdo, whose shot is blocked by Bailly

68' Lingard's pressing like he's under orders from Jurgen Klopp and it's not allowing Propper or Gross any time on the ball. Hughton makes his first change of the match as Solly March is taken off for the even more electric Jose Izquierdo. The last twenty odd minutes should be fun for United's full backs.

66' Lukaku tries to take on the entire left flank of Brighton - and fails. Albion move forward and March does ever so well to square up Young, check back inside on his left and lift a lovely ball deep into the United box, where, at the far post Locadia heads awfully high.

64' OOO! A lovely, lovely ball from Gross finds Ulloa screaming in at goal, one-on-one, but Valencia is right behind the Argentine and outpowers + outpaces him to win the ball back cleanly.

63' Mata tries to play a surgical ball in behind the Brighton defence and into the path of Martial. Good thing that lovely man isn't a surgeon - that one was awfully overhit.

62' Matic tries to switch things up by feeding a cross-field to Valencia - but he mishits that one awfully. Goalkick Brighton.

61' United push Brighton deep into their own half with some smart passing and movement... till a Martial ball bounces away to Krul. Locadia then outmuscles McTominay to get his team a breather, and push the lot of them further up the field.

60' You can't, though, keep a good down. Matic springs away from two in blue at the edge of his own box and sends Martial tearing away on the counter. He, in turn, tries to find Lingard but miscalculates the trajectory of his run - and gives the ball away. Brighton romp forward; a counter-counter-attack if you will and Gross whips in an interesting looking ball that's well plucked from the air by Romero.

59' Matic's being closed down with much more intensity this half - and the results are showing immediately. United are not being allowed to do what they like in the Brighton third.

58' The corner's rubbish.

57' OOOO! WHAT A SHOT! WHAT A SAVE! Locadia turned away from the attentions of Matic and whipped a superb shot that aimed destined to bulge the back of the net by the top corner, but Romero flung himself at it and tipped it over. Superb football all around, that.

56' More slick passing from United - but it ends when Lukaku passes it straight to Dunk. Brighton move forward with intent....

54' Nice little feet from Lukaku as he tip-toes away from three challenges - always fascinating to watch big man play delicate tricks with the ball - but his pass out to Young on the left is too close to Schelotto.

53' OOO! Locadia drives a low powerful shot toward Romero's lower right hand corner, but the Argentine's not getting beat at the near post. Young then shimmies away from March and Schelotto with a lovely bt of skill, prompting another spell of United possession.

52' Lingard tries to release Martial down the left, but Schelotto gets in the way, importantly. At the other end,, Gross has another pop from distance. This one, though, is at Smalling

51' WOOF! Good work from Suttner allows Locadia to tee up Gross at the edge of the box; from where he thrahses a good shot inches wide.

50' Oh, Martial and his one-twos. This time he tries one with Lukaku, but Dunk reads their intentions and gets a vital boot in.

49' Mata's corner is rubbish. United keep the ball, though, and Lukaku tries a cheeky little reverse into Lingard inside the Brighton box but gets far too little power behind it. Brighton immediately move forward and pump it up the field; where Smalling bullies the life out of Ulloa and wins the ball back

48' Young's already working that England-call-up-earning magic. He's caught March offside before moving forward, dispossessing the young winger and winning a corner off Schelotto.

46' Both teams give the ball cheaply away as the half gets off to a less-than-promising start

PEEP! WE ARE OFF AGAIN!

United make a change as Luke Shaw is hauled off for Ashley Young. Presumably for allowng Schelotto and March so much space and time down that flank

Instead of tea, I got myself one of them chocolate ice-cream bars. Forgive me if the first few minutes are a bit sparsely commentated upon - it's pretty good y'know...

PEEP! PEEP! HALFTIME! MANCHESTER UNITED 1 - 0 BRIGHTON AND HOVE ALBION

Romelu Lukaku's 25th goal of the season sees United lead Brighton in their quarterfinal match up on a snowy, snowy night in Manchester. The visitors, though, have seen enough frailty in the United backline to be enthused, though. A cup of piping hot tea, and they should be good to go for the second half!

See you in fifteen, I need some tea too!

46' United kill that minute with some professional sideways passing.

One minute to be added on

45' Brighton's turn to push United deeper into their own half March squares up Shaw and cuts a cross/shot into the box and into the arms of Romero.

44' At the other end, Bailly and Romero have a slight break down in communications as a ball that can be easily gathered by the Argentine is hacked away, and thereby given away, by the otherwise excellent Ivorian. Nothing comes off the error, though.

43' AIY AIY. Gross the ball away to Matic, who immediately feeds Martial. The Frenchman squares up Schellotto and runs into the box, but is just a tad too late to pass it on to Lukaku and Duffy smothers it clear

42' OUCH! Lingard gets a knock on the head from a rather high Propper boot. No yellow, though, as there wasn't much intent or much contact.

41' Mata cuts back from that right wing and tries to find Shaw deep at the far post - but his ball's got just too much oomph for the attack-minded fullback