Teenage sensation Marcus Rashford scored a delicious goal as

Manchester United won 2-1 at West Ham United in Wednesday’s FA Cup

quarter-final replay to bolster manager Louis van Gaal.

West Ham were bidding to crown the final cup tie at their venerable

Boleyn Ground home with victory, having pushed United close at Old

Trafford in the 1-1 draw when the teams first met.

But it was Van Gaal’s United, for whom Wayne Rooney returned to

action after two months out with a knee injury, who advanced to a

Wembley semi-final against Everton on April 23 courtesy of 18-year-old

Rashford’s sixth goal of the season and a close-range Marouane Fellaini

effort.

“I think we controlled the game for 85 minutes and could have

finished the game much earlier, but then they scored and it is very

nervous till the end,” said Van Gaal.

On Rashford’s goal, he said: “It was a great goal. I was behind him on the bench and I saw his view, and I shouted ‘Shoot!'”

Having been under fire for several long months, Van Gaal now has a

chance to finish a gruelling season by leading United to a first FA Cup

triumph since 2004, which could yet keep him in a job.

West Ham, who set up a nerve-jangling last few minutes through James

Tomkins’s header, must now seek to ensure that when Van Gaal’s men

return for the last ever game at the Boleyn Ground on May 10, their

dreams of Champions League qualification remain intact.

“It is not what we wanted of course, but we gave our best,” said West

Ham manager Slaven Bilic, whose team lost for the first time in 17 home

games.

“We are going to bounce back.”

West Ham shared six goals with Arsenal in a gripping game on Saturday

and they started this match with comparable abandon, Enner Valencia

threatening and Dimitri Payet trying to catch David de Gea out with a

cunningly disguised free-kick.

But West Ham’s eagerness to

attack left them exposed at the back and as the visitors began to

venture forward, they found unexpected space.

The quicksilver Rashford had a pair of efforts blocked, while

Fellaini, who came in for Morgan Schneiderlin, saw a shot pushed over by

West Ham’s cup goalkeeper Darren Randolph.

As heavy rain began to fall, Rashford wriggled away from a posse of

defenders and released Jesse Lingard, whose side-foot effort obliged

Randolph to save with his legs. Shortly after, West Ham alumnus Michael

Carrick volleyed wide.

Lingard rattled a stanchion soon after the change of ends and

although Cheikhou Kouyate then worked De Gea at the other end, in the

54th minute United’s pressure told.

A clearance from Michail Antonio found its way to Anthony Martial,

who helped the ball on to Rashford, and the teenager applied further

gloss to his gleaming reputation by shimmying inside Tomkins and

planting a sumptuous finish in the top-right corner.

Not even the most ardent West Ham regular could have complained that

the goal was undeserved and with 23 minutes remaining United doubled

their advantage.

A cross from the right reached Martial at the back post and from his

mishit shot, Fellaini steered the ball into the net with his knee from

about three yards out.

After De Gea had produced a razor-sharp save to thwart Antonio,

Tomkins nodded in a knock-down from Andy Carroll with 11 minutes

remaining to set up a rousing finale.

Rooney made his entrance as a late replacement for Rashford, but he

had no opportunity to influence proceedings in West Ham’s half as

Bilic’s side laid siege to the United goal.

Carroll headed narrowly over from Aaron Cresswell’s cross before De

Gea saved twice, from Kouyate and Carroll, and when Kouyate headed the

rebound from the latter attempt into the net, to United and Van Gaal’s

immense relief the flag went up for offside.