League Cup: Mata, Fellaini goals give Manchester United edge over Hull City

Manchester Uniteds Belgian midfielder Marouane Fellaini L celebrates with Manchester Uniteds French midfielder Paul Pogba following the EFL English Football League Cup semifinal football match between Manchester United and Hull City at Old Trafford in Manchester north west England on January 10 2017 Manchester United won the match 20 PicAFPJuan Mata and Marouane Fellaini struck to give Manchester United a 20 victory over injuryravaged Hull City in Tuesdays League Cup semifinal first leg at Old TraffordAll eyes were on United captain Wayne Rooney who is chasing a record 250th goal for the club but it was Mata who broke the deadlock in the 56th minute before substitute Fellaini added a late second It puts Jose Mourinhos men in the driving seat ahead of the return leg on January 26 although it was not until Fellaini headed home in the 87th minute that they finally put the game beyond HullWe are not at Wembley but the second goal is maybe the important goal Mourinho told Sky Sports I was expecting a difficult matchI wasnt expecting to win by four or five United have now won nine games in succession ahead of arch rivals Liverpools visit in the Premier League on Sunday Hulls new manager Marco Silva taking charge of his second game was able to name only six substitutes and lost both Markus Henriksen and Josh Tymon to injuryIm not happy with the result but Im happy with the work of my players said Silva With all the problems we had my boys worked well Despite Mourinho making seven changes to the team that had outclassed Reading 40 in the FA Cup on Saturday United picked up where they had left off peppering the Hull goal with shotsHull goalkeeper Eldin Jakupovic had to produce a onehanded save to thwart Mata inside two minutes and moments later Andy Robertson stopped Rooney applying the finishing touch to Marcus Rashfords shot Rooney goes close The presence of David Meyler and Tom Huddlestone in defence and the fact there were only six players on the Hull bench told the story of the visitors injury problems and there was more to come Henriksen was left clutching his right shoulder in agony after being knocked over by Paul Pogba and had to go off in the 16th minute with Abel Hernandez taking his placeUnited missing the ill Zlatan Ibrahimovic continued to swarm forward Henrikh Mkhitaryan twice shooting wide Rashford lashing over and Jakupovic shovelling a longrange Pogba effort over the crossbar But Hull the Premier Leagues bottom club began to offer an attacking threat of their own as halftime approached in the clubs first ever League Cup semifinal matchAdama Diomande gave United a scare when he headed against the post only for an offside flag to then go up and both Robert Snodgrass and Hernandez tested David de Gea before the interval Rooneys moment of history looked to have arrived in the 51st minute when Pogbas fine flighted pass set him racing in on goal from the right but he drilled his shot inches wide of the far postInstead it was Mata who provided the breakthrough stabbing in on the volley at the back post after Antonio Valencias cross from the right was headed back across goal by Mkhitaryan After Diomande had volleyed over acrobatically for Hull Pogba came within a whisker of doubling Uniteds lead his curling freekick clanging against the lefthand post and bouncing away It seemed Hull would escape with only a onegoal deficit but with three minutes remaining Fellaini met Matteo Darmians cross with a looping header that Huddlestone could only help over the lineSilvas injury woes mounted yet further in stoppage time when 17yearold leftback Tymon had to limp off Liverpool last seasons beaten finalists visit Southampton in the first leg of the second semifinal on Wednesday