Vito Mannone guessed right, dived right, and that was it. No first Wembley final for David Moyes, no respite for Manchester United, no hiding place. Sunderland will play Manchester City on March 2 and their presence is thoroughly deserved.

If one memory remains from a game that made up in narrative what it lacked in finesse, it is that of four Manchester United penalty takers missing to send their opponents through.

To be fair, three Sunderland men missed, too. It was hardly a school of excellence. There have been half-time shoot outs among the sponsors that have gone better than this.

Yet that should take nothing from Sunderland who were, in the circumstances, excellent.

They lost the game in normal time 1-0, and in extra time 2-1, but that was enough to move to the lottery or the shoot-out and — somehow — they kept their nerve. Just.

Craig Gardner, Steven Fletcher and Adam Johnson missed, but Marcos Alonso and Ki Sung-Yueng scored. For United, only Darren Fletcher found the target.

Danny Welbeck, Adnan Januzaj, Phil Jones and finally Rafael failed. When a Brazilian cannot score from the spot you know your luck’s out and Moyes got farther and farther back from the action, almost taking shelter behind his assistants as the horror unfolded.

The last two minutes of normal time were simply incredible, though. Manchester United out and then redeemed in a matter of seconds. One hundred and eighteen minutes had elapsed when David De Gea appeared to make the error that cost David Moyes his first final as Manchester United manager.

Phil Bardsley shot and the ball squirmed out of De Gea’s hands and in at the far post. No final for Moyes, no respite for United, no hiding place for the Spaniard in goal.

But wait, there’s more. With United there’s always more. They went straight down the Sunderland end and through Adnan Januzaj — their best forward player on the night by some distance — fashioned another escape. His cross was met by Javier Hernandez, criminally untroubled by Sunderland defenders, and he turned it into the net. Penalties it would be.

David Moyes stood on the touchline, so close to his first Wembley final as Manchester United manager he could almost touch it. Yet as the clock ticked inexorably down and the prospect of 30 more minutes loomed, he became ever more aware of the Manchester United way. It is never easy.

Away goals do count in the Capital One Cup but not until extra time has been played. Had this been a European tie, United’s place in the final would have been confirmed after 90 minutes.

Trailing 2-1 from the first leg, Jonny Evans’s header would have been enough to activate the goal at Sunderland’s Stadium of Light and set up a Wembley derby meeting with Manchester City. Instead, the strange demands of the second domestic cup dictate that away goals are in play only after an additional 30 minutes have been added to the second leg.

And so Moyes stood, and stewed, as Sunderland edged ever closer, with a Marcos Alonso shot that flew just wide and another from Adam Johnson, charged down bravely by Alex Buttner.

Hands deep in his pockets, one moment on the edge of the technical area, the next retreating to the safety of the shadows, Moyes watched grimly. The Capital One Cup is no replacement for the type of trophies a Manchester United manager should be winning but beggars cannot be choosers and Moyes is in no position to pick his triumphs this season.

The imminent arrival of Juan Mata is designed to relaunch an assault on Champions League qualification, rather than the title itself, and when Buttner, one of the few youngsters in this Manchester United team, was replaced by Patrice Evra after 84 minutes it showed the extent of Moyes’s desire to plot his path through by any means necessary.

It has been a curse in this tournament of late, the 2-1 first-leg advantage. Only one of the last nine teams to have led by that margin after 90 minutes has progressed and, sure enough, after 37 minutes, Sunderland found themselves a goal down and heading out on the away goals rule unless they managed an equaliser at Old Trafford.

Corners have also been a curse this season, certainly to Sunderland, and the failure adequately to defend a dead-ball did for them here, too.

Adnan Januzaj took a corner from the right, which Danny Welbeck dropped short to receive, turning the ball on in an ungainly, if effective fashion. Sunderland dozed, John O’Shea and Wes Brown in particular, and their former team-mate Jonny Evans stole in at the far post to head the ball in with goalkeeper Vito Mannone stranded.

It was just about what United deserved and was most definitely a fitting reward for Januzaj. Here is a player who can be seen to improve game by game and everything that was good about United in the first half stemmed from his imagination.

He outran his full back, poked the ball through the defender’s legs and struck one of the most sublime deep crosses that will be seen on any Premier League ground this season.

In a few years time he will surely be one of the greatest talents in this division; no wonder there was genuine fear at Manchester United that he would be lost to them like Paul Pogba. Instead, Januzaj was persuaded to sign a new contract — arguably Moyes’s best deal of the season, the £37million move for Mata notwithstanding.

The idea that Mata’s arrival might hamper Januzaj’s progress is bogus. The 18-year-old operated on the right here, but could switch to the opposite flank if necessary. Mata plays down the middle, left or right, so the two could be a team, not alternatives.

Certainly, Moyes would be mad to do anything that interfered with Januzaj’s development. He took the game to Sunderland on a night when anything less than victory would be regarded as a humiliation, considering the emphatic way Manchester City had marched into the Wembley final.

It was Januzaj who set up United’s first chance of the game, fouled by Fabio Borini on the right flank after five minutes and then rising to take the free-kick himself, whipping the ball towards the far post where Javier Hernandez lay in wait. It was perfectly weighted, perfectly directed and Mannone had to be at his best to save Hernandez’s header.

Only once did United threaten in the first half without Januzaj’s assistance. That opportunity came in the 36th minute, when Shinji Kagawa — deployed through the middle but to no great effect in the early exchanges — found Darren Fletcher at the far post making a late run, only for the captain on the night to be denied by the post. Danny Welbeck was first to the rebound but could not turn it in with Mannone at his best.

The best move of the night, however, belonged to Gus Poyet’s side. It came in the 19th minute, stunning in its simplicity yet wondrous in its execution and a reminder that United were far from guaranteed a trip to the capital in search of Moyes’s first trophy.

A succession of passes lengthy enough to be given the olé treatment by the away end was rounded off with a quite stunning long through-ball from Johnson deep on the right flank. His pass fell, precisely, at the feet of Borini with such accuracy that it almost woke Rafael in the covering position. Borini ran on goal and shot early, the ball sitting up for a half-volley and dipping viciously just over the bar with David de Gea helpless in United’s goal.

Soon after, Fletcher had his pocket picked by Lee Cattermole and Sunderland were in a great counter-attacking position but the midfielder ran out of support and inspiration and the play was allowed to fizzle out.

Brown and O’Shea also had first-half headers that threatened and a succession of corners at the start of the second half ensured United were never allowed to feel comfortable for long.

—Daily Mail