Anthony Martial struck in the final minute of added time to earn Manchester United a 2-1 victory over Everton in a highly-entertaining FA Cup semi-final tie at Wembley this evening.
The Red Devils took the lead in the first half through former Toffees midfielder Marouane Fellaini, before being pegged back by an unfortunate Chris Smalling own goal 15 minutes from time.
Everton - who had earlier missed a penalty to draw level - had plenty of chances to win the end-to-end game themselves, but in the end Martial popped up in the dying stages to send United through.
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Romelu Lukaku had the best chance of an explosive match - which saw a whopping 38 attempts on goal in all - capitalising on some hesitancy in the United defence to round David de Gea only for his shot to be kept off the line by a backtracking Wayne Rooney.
A poor first touch rather let the Belgian down on that occasion, and it was a similar story later in the half when played through down the right to this time be thwarted by De Gea down low.
Everton were certainly not afraid to fire away shots from distance, with both Ross Barkley and James McCarthy forcing De Gea into a couple of fairly routine stops in goal.
United's first opening up the other end fell the way of Jesse Lingard, who fired into the body of Joel Robles with his first-time attempt after being picked out by Rooney.
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Rooney had a go at goal from range himself soon after, as did Marcus Rashford from a central position, but both men were kept out by Robles as the entertaining opening quarter of the match made way for a more conservative contest heading towards the break.
The breakthrough did arrive on 34 minutes, however, as eventual match-winner Martial got the better of Mohamed Besic down the right when bursting into the box and picked out Fellaini at the end of his run.
Fellaini's rather scuffed effort made its way past Robles to give the Red Devils a crucial lead - the first time their opponents had conceded in this competition during their run to the final four.
The Merseyside outfit, who had won both previous meetings between these two sides at this stage of the FA Cup, were given a route back into the game 10 minutes into the second half when Timothy Fosu-Mensah brought down Barkley inside the box.
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It looked to be a harsh decision made by referee Anthony Taylor on the face of it, and United will feel like justice was done when De Gea dived to his right to push aside Lukaku's spot kick.
Everton were dominating things as the half wore on, coming close to a leveller once again when Barkley's on-target free kick asked more questions of the Red Devils' No.1 between the sticks.
Lukaku, looking to keep up his record of scoring in every cup tie he has played for the Toffees, then headed over on the hour mark when put off by Besic marching in behind him.
It was a case of Roberto Martinez's men doing everything but score heading into the final third of the match as the chances kept on coming, but Fellaini could have killed the tie for good when given the task of tucking home from close range.
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The opening goalscorer saw his shot kept out by Phil Jagielka, who was lucky that the referee did not spot his handball which would have given a different feel completely to the remainder of the game.
As it was, the 11 men of Everton pushed on and got the goal that their efforts in the second half deserved when substitute Gerard Deulofeu's teasing cross was cruelly turned into his own net by Smalling at the front post.
Following the pattern of the opening stages of the match, the final 10 minutes provided plenty of excitement as more impressive work by Deulofeu on the opposite flank created two chances for Lukaku.
The Belgian failed to take both, heading wide from close range with the second, while also seeing his shot blocked away by Fellaini at the end of a strong Everton counter a few minutes later.
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Just when the game appeared to be petering out towards extra time, a ball slipped through for Martial allowed the Frenchman to prove his worth once more as he coolly tucked home to win the tie for United.
Defeat for Everton will pile further pressure on Martinez, who has now seen his side go seven games without a win in all competitions, while opposite number Louis van Gaal can look forward to another Wembley date in May against either Crystal Palace or Watford.
Daniel Lewis
