IT took a memorable winner to settle a forgettable contest as Benjamin Sesko continued Manchester United’s Happy New Year.
No player likes being described as a super sub, but that’s exactly what the £65m Slovenian striker has turned into of late as he came off the bench to grab a priceless late winner.
United’s man of the moment struck with his third goal in four games to push Michael Carrick’s side up to fourth thanks to a 10-match unbeaten Premier League run stretching back to December.
A woefully under-par Everton could have few complaints as their trials and tribulations at the Hill-Dickinson Stadium took another turn for the worse to leave them without a win for almost three months at their new home.
Sesko rounded off a stunning counter-attack 20 minutes from time with his seventh of the season to ensure that eight of the 12 goals scored under Carrick’s stewardship have arrived in the second half of games.
It was far from pretty, but that will matter little to the caretaker boss who is more than getting a tune out of a squad that has for so long under-achieved.
Both sides looked rather rusty on their return to action after a 13-day break, a cagey, largely forgettable first-half almost started in remarkable fashion with the visitors fortunate not to concede a bizarre goal inside 10 seconds.
Senne Lammens’ lacklustre clearance from the opening kick-off was blocked by Thierno Barry midway in the United half to see the ball ballooned back towards the Belgian’s goal but wide of the target to spare the goalkeeper’s blushes.
In an unconvincing start from each defence, it took an almost comical goal-line clearance from James Tarkowski to prevent the visitors from taking the lead inside a frenetic first five minutes.
Everton failed to deal with a routine Bruno Fernandes centre into the box, and when Jordan Pickford half-stopped a snap-shot on the turn from Amad Diallo Tarkowski, hacked the ball to safety from a prone position after tripping over the England international in his attempts to protect his goal.
Diogo Dalot had Pickford scrambling to his left with a thumping 25-yard effort which flashed narrowly wide of the goalkeeper’s left-hand upright after Everton only partially cleared a Fernandes free-kick into the area in a rare moment of goalmouth action before the break.
Lammens showed he’d finally tuned in after his rude early awakening with a smart piece of handling as he dived to his right to pluck a firmly-stuck 30-yard free-kick from James Garner out of the air when with half-time rapidly approaching Everton finally managed to aim a shot on target.
As they did at the outset of the first, the hosts were quickly on the front foot at the start of the second.
They were undone in their efforts to break the deadlock when Harrison Armstrong opted for placement over power to allow Lammens to save his angled shot from 15 yards after good work by Iliman Ndiaye down the right created space in United’s box from which the young winger should have done better.
Thankfully, both sides looked rather more purposeful after changing ends, and another chance went begging when Bryan Mbeumo volleyed over from a diminishing angle after Tarkowski lost his bearings to make a hash of his attempted clearance after Kobbie Mainoo swung over a threatening cross to the back post.
Mbeumo went down theatrically in a risible attempt to get Tarkowski sent off after simply running into the Everton defender as he shepherded the ball back to Pickford. Fortunately the officials weren’t fooled although they failed to book the Cameroon forward for his tiresome play-acting.
Mbeumo showed the more positive side of his game 20 minutes from time as he sprinted onto a sublime 50-yard Matheus Cunha pass from his own half to square for Sesko to outpace Tarkowski and plant the winner confidently past an exposed Pickford from 15 yards to round off near length of the pitch counter-attack in emphatic style.
Lammens tipped a late Michael Keane pile-driver over the bar but Everton’s attempts to claw their way back into the contest were at best unconvincing and ultimately ended in failure.
It took a desperate save from Pickford to prevent Sesko from doubling his and his team’s tally in stoppage-time. It wasn’t to prove a costly miss for Carrick’s men as the hosts were again left empty-handed in front of their increasingly frustrated supporters, many of whom had left long before the final whistle.
Pickford 7; Garner 6, Tarkowski 6, Keane 6, Branthwaite 6; Iroegbunam 4 (Beto 79, 6), Gueye 6; Ndiaye 6, Dewsbury-Hall 6, Armstrong 5 (George 73, 6); Barry. Booked: Pickford, Tarkowski.
Lammens 7; Dalot 6, Yoro 7, Maguire 7, Shaw 7; Casemiro 7, Mainoo 7; Diallo 6 (Sesko 58, 8), Bruno Fernandes 7, Mbeumo 6 (Mazraoui 78, 7); Cunha 6 (Heaven 90, 6). Booked: Mazraoui, Fernandes.
Darren England
