For 40 minutes the game was going nowhere, United had huffed and puffed but couldn't blow the Reading door down mainly in part to some superb goalkeeping from the Reading keeper Federici. As often the case it takes a quirk fate to spark the game.
Phil Jones who has been superb in the last few games with his effective man marking of Fellani and Ronaldo over the past few weeks suffered a late tackle and had to hobble off. Cue Nani and the 50 odd minutes he played was one of his best displays in a United shirt.
In the 5 minutes he played in the first half he smashed the post with Federici beaten and moments later another shot that was finely saved.
Federici was a thorn in United's side with fine saves from Welbeck, Cleverley and Young. Reading also had a chance when De Gea made a fine save from a goal bound effort from Adam LeFondre.
The second half saw much the same with United dominating possession and Anderson going close but another Federici save frustrated United. Going into the last 20 minutes Reading legs were tarting to wobble with the running they had to put in and Valencia who was playing a right back role fed Nani who lashed the ball in and the relief was audible. 2 minutes later Nani turned provider and his wicked cross was met by Hernandez who headed in his 15th goal of the season. In between the Goals De Gea made a great double save but he was finally beaten with 9 minutes to go when Hunt beat Smalling to the ball and the ball fell to McAnuff who slid it under De Gea.
Welbeck had a chance to clinch it at the end but his touch deserted him and the injury time saw a few nervy moments especially when a LeFondre header narrowly missed but a quarter final tie guaranteed at home and one game away from a return to Wembley.
Man of the match, Nani. HE only played half a game but his contribution was immense.
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