Manchester United produced a much-improved performance to win 3-1 away to Championship side Derby County to get through to the FA Cup fifth round.
Goals from Daley Blind, Wayne Rooney and Juan Mata sees them in the fifth round of the Cup, drawn this Sunday.
The game started with United having a lot of the ball, and the first chance of the game fell to Anthony Martial within the first five minutes. The striker shot over the bar after a good passing move from the United players, Martial should have done better with the shot.
Rooney opened the scoring for United
United's dominance at the start of the game was finally rewarded when Wayne Rooney scored in the 16th minute with a fantastic curling effort from the corner of the box which went straight into the top corner of Scott Carson's goal to make it six goals in six games from the United captain.
Derby responded well to the goal by creating a good chance when Nick Blackman headed a good cross straight at David de Gea, but it was a warning sign to the United players to not take their foot off the pedal.
United after a slight wobble started regained dominance of the game again by having the ball for huge periods of the game, and the Derby fans started to get restless with their team after the half-hour mark as they were unable to get the ball for any period of time. Louis van Gaal will have loved how the game plan was working for United in the first half.
Derby equalised against the run of play
Derby equalised though in the 37th minute when George Thorne stroked the ball past De Gea to give the hosts an equaliser out of nothing something that van Gaal wouldn't have wanted to happen as his team was dominating up until that point.
The first half ended with the home side coming more into the game with their goal giving them a boost, but the United players threw it away after a decent performance in the first half.
United came out of the traps quickly in the second half with Martial once again beating his man, and getting into a good position in the box, but his ball across the box evaded everyone, and a good chance went away for United.
Derby responded well once again when Tom Ince was inches away from giving the home team the lead, but the cross was just too long for him, but the follow up went to Blackman who shot the ball over De Gea's goal.
United should have taken the lead when Rooney played a great pass to Jesse Lingard, and the winger crossed it into Juan Mata who only had to put his header on target, and he would have scored, but he put it wide.
Blind restored United's lead with a well-taken goal
United finally got the second goal their play deserved in the 65th minute when a good passing move ended with a good cross from Lingard which Daley Blind up from the back stroked beautifully into the bottom corner.
Mata made it three for United to send them through to the fifth round
After a large period of nothing happening in the game, United got their third goal when Martial laid it on a plate for Mata in the 83rd minute to stroke home past Carson which is what the away side deserved, and hopefully they can keep these kind of performances up for next few games.
The game ended 3-1 to United with a much better performance from all the players, and thanks to goals from Rooney in the first half, and goals from Blind and Mata in the second half, United sailed through to the fifth round of the FA Cup.
There were some real standout performances for United during the game especially from Martial, Rooney, Cameron Borthwick-Jackson, and young right back Guillermo Varela who all played really well all game to make sure United came away with the win.