FA Cup: Lukaku eases Man Utd into Cup quarters despite VAR troubles

Manchester Uniteds Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku celebrates scoring the opening goal of the English FA Cup fifth round football match between Huddersfield Town and Manchester United at the John Smiths stadium in Huddersfield PicAFPDebate over the merits of video assistant refereeing was again raised as a Romelu Lukaku double eased Manchester United into the FA Cup quarterfinals in a 20 win at Huddersfield despite a controversial call going against Jose Mourinhos men Juan Mata thought he had put United into a 20 lead just before halftime only for the Spaniards effort to be ruled out by the video referee after a lengthy delay and without conclusive proof the officials on the field had made the wrong decisionThankfully for United and the authorities that decision didnt have a definitive influence on the outcome as Lukaku struck early in both halves to take his tally for the season to 21 Brighton and Southampton were also fifth round victors to join Chelsea and Leicester who beat Hull and Sheffield United respectively on Friday in the draw for the last eight later on Saturday United were without Paul Pogba due to illness as a frustrating few weeks for the Frenchman continued after a dramatic dip in form that has seen him hauled off by Mourinho in recent defeats at Tottenham and NewcastleMourinho made six changes in all from last weekends shock reverse at St James Park but his decision to retain Lukaku paid dividends when the Belgian burst onto Matas pass to open the scoring inside three minutes Mata then had the ball in the net himself a minute before the break A delay in referring the decision was exacerbated as the lines used to help the video official decipher offside decisions appeared to be far from straight United were left to mull over their grievance at halftime but quickly ensured it wasnt to cost them too dearly as a brilliant onetwo between Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez freed the former to slot low past Jonas LosslMore West Brom woeElsewhere a week to forget for West Brom was rounded off with an FA Cup exit as fellow Premier League strugglers Southampton won 21 at the Hawthorns on Saturday West Brom boss Alan Pardew named Jonny Evans and Gareth Barry in his starting lineup despite the experienced duo forming half of a group of four players questioned by Spanish police this week over the theft of a taxi on the clubs warm weather training trip to BarcelonaThere was a problem in terms of selection because of the incident to go with my strongest team said Pardew I decided to do that I felt I needed to make a little bit of a statement about the events I was far from happy over them and made Gareth McAuley captain today Wesley Hoedt took advantage of some slack West Brom marking to head home his first goal for Southampton just 11 minutes in Dusan Tadic doubled the visitors advantage on the counterattack after the break and Southampton held out despite Salomon Rondons spectacular volley pulling a goal back Brighton cruised into the last eight as fourthtier Coventry Citys fairytale run came to a crashing end in a 31 defeat Sheffield Wednesday and Swansea City face an unwanted replay after an insipid 00 draw on Swansea boss Carlos Carvalhals return to HillsboroughIts a score nobody wants said Carvalhal whose side are also battling for Premier League survival Maybe in the future if the managers and referee agree after the first game we can go to penalties we can finish the game today I believe if you had asked us and the Sheffield Wednesday manager wed have gone to penaltiesCatch up on all the latest sports news and updates here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Except for the change in headline the story has been provided ASIS AS AVAILABLE without any verification or editing from our side Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason