Erik Ten Hag stated that Manchester United “got away with it” despite maintaining his composure after the team defeated Championship Coventry on penalties in the FA Cup semifinal.
At Wembley on Sunday, the Premier League team was given a serious fright when the lower division team rallied from a 3-0 deficit and later had a late extra-time goal disallowed for a slight offside.
After 120 minutes of exciting play, the score was 3-3, and United won 4-2 on penalties to set up a rematch of last year’s championship game versus rival Manchester City.
However, the eighth-place Sky Blues in the Championship drew one back on 71 minutes through Ellis Simms, and then threw caution to the wind.
With a deflected strike, Callum O’Hare added another goal to the score, and Haji Wright’s stoppage-time penalty following Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s handball forced extra time.
Before Victor Torp appeared to have stolen a thrilling victory in the dying minutes, both teams missed the crossbar in extra time. However, VAR determined that Wright had been fractionally offside throughout the build-up.
Even though the defeat was terrible, Sky Blues manager Mark Robins maintained there was no sense of injustice.
“If it’s the right call, it’s the right call,” stated the former United striker. That’s disappointing, since I think he was a toenail offside. If he had removed his toenail, the topic of fines would not have come up.
“We shouldn’t be too depressed about it, even if I’m disappointed for everyone. We’ve faced up against Manchester United, rallied from a 3-0 deficit, and came dangerously close to winning with a fourth, only to lose in a shootout, which is possible.
