Benjamin Sesko will never forget the stoppage-time pirouette and finish in front of the Stretford End that burst Bernd Leno’s net and earned Manchester United a memorable victory over Fulham.
Just 180 seconds earlier Kevin had curled a peach of an equaliser past Senne Lammens that hushed the Old Trafford faithful and seemed to have grabbed a point for the visitors.
“Who are you?” roared the away supporters but the taunts were now returned by those of a United persuasion. Bruno Fernandes ran down the right, crossed, and Sesko did the rest, the grin from the striker, on as a replacement, lighting his face in ecstasy.
Asked if this late winner had United’s DNA on it, Michael Carrick gushed. “It’s the best feeling, I have to say,” said the interim manager. “Some of the best moments that I’ve been lucky enough to be a part of [as a United player] have come when you get a moment of elation like that. There’s no better place, in front of the Stretford End and it ends up meaning a bit more. I think people leave here with more than United winning today. It kind of puts layers on top of that and the connection – it’s why we all love it so much.
“The excitement that’s part of this club and it’s not always the easiest way, we’d like to win games a little bit more comfortably than that. But certainly when they come along, it’s pretty special.”
Sesko’s was the third senses-tingling strike of a life-affirming second half. The first came from Matheus Cunha whose choice of celebration in front of the Stretford End was to dance after a strike reminiscent of the many which have illuminated this venue down the years.
From outside Fulham’s area, to the right of the D, Casemiro slid a no-look pass in behind. His fellow Brazilian Cunha hurtled forward and, with the angle closing, smashed his right boot through the ball to beat Leno.
Cue a spreading of arms in a surfing-like action that might have come straight from the wave-riders of Copacabana beach, the winger’s finish following Casemiro’s first-half opener. This delighted United and their afternoon continued to be rosy when Jorge Cuenca was again affected by the video assistant referee, James Bell, after his lead role in Casemiro’s opener.
Raúl Jiménez’s free-kick hit United’s wall inside the area, Samuel Chukwueze’s effort struck Lisandro Martínez and broke for the Spaniard to score. But, after a prolonged review, Bell adjudged Chukwueze to be offside, though the image used by the VAR seemed inconclusive. Fulham were far better after the break and scored a late Jiménez penalty, after Harry Maguire had chopped the Mexican down, before Kevin’s goal.
Yet the spoils go to United, after their third consecutive victory under Carrick, which came via a front-foot display that featured two first-half penalty claims involving Cuenca – one denied and one given by the referee, John Brooks, before the VAR overturned the decision but awarded a free-kick for an earlier infringement that created Casemiro’s finish.
First Brooks correctly denied Bryan Mbeumo a spot-kick because Cuenca took the ball first. But when the centre-back upended Cunha, Brooks pointed to the spot but had missed that the Spaniard had taken the ball before man. The penalty decision was overturned but the VAR indicated Cuenca had grabbed Cunha before he ran into the area and a foul was given.
From the free-kick, Fernandes picked out Casemiro at the back post and he headed home to Marco Silva’s all-round disgust, the Portuguese booked for his protests.
Silva’s argument was that the VAR had effectively re-refereed Brooks’s decision and decided on a different infringement. “The penalty was given for the tackle,” he said. “After, because the decision was so bad, they found a different foul. The story of the game started with [this] horrendous, terrible decision from John Brooks with the penalty he gave. Horrendous decision from that moment – big mistake. It was the first time we saw all the Premier League fans and us coaches and players. We have to take all this frustration to win the next one.”
United had a flow seen rarely in recent years, an ease of play that had Kobbie Mainoo drifting a ball into the area that a flying Fernandes just missed and Amad Diallo, cantering to halfway, squaring inside to his captain, and Fernandes sweeping the ball left to Cunha.
In the technical area Carrick emanated a cool persona that his players could feed off. The move they ended the first half with was illustrative – a Fernandes backheel into Amad that was as nonchalant as the winger’s swivel-and-unload which was deflected for a corner.
Now came Fulham’s upturn in performance. A clever Alex Iwobi chip to Lammens’s right-post was hit back across goal and Martínez cleared. The rest of the half was breathless, featuring Cunha’s goal, Cuenca’s disallowed strike, and Sesko heading against a post before Kevin’s finish and the Slovene’s winner.
Beforehand, The 1958 fan group, staged its latest action against United’s ownership. A march featuring about 500 supporters was directed at Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the largest single minority owner, in addition to the Glazers, the majority proprietors.
