The resurrection of Manchester United under Michael Carrick continued on a damp, dank Monday evening on the banks of the Mersey when his club found a way to conquer new ground in enemy territory.
United’s scrappy, gutsy, hard-fought 1-0 victory was their fifth win in six games since Carrick took charge of the club and lifted them above Chelsea into fourth place in the Premier League. They are now only three points behind Aston Villa, who are third.
It was United’s first appearance at Everton’s magnificent new Hill Dickinson Stadium and they did not waste any time breaking their duck here. It felt for a long time as if the match was drifting towards a draw but United ended that impression with a brilliant second-half break-away goal.
It was scored by substitute Benjamin Sesko 20 minutes from time. The Slovenian striker has yet to start a game under Carrick but now has six goals in his last seven games and, after a difficult start, the hard work for which he is famed at Old Trafford is paying off. It cannot be too long before he turns from a supersub into a starter.
Everton are still searching for home comforts. This was their fourth defeat in six home games without a win and, for all their industry and endeavour, they are desperately lacking a cutting edge. When they find it, this place will become a fortress.
It was, of course, United’s first visit to Everton’s spectacular new stadium on the Mersey estuary and if they were able to appreciate their surroundings, they may also have been encouraged by the fact that the Toffees had not won here since early December.
Benjamin Sesko proved Man United’s super sub again with a winning goal against Everton
Sesko confidently fired Man United ahead with his third goal in his last four matches
Michael Carrick’s side moved into the top four of the Premier League with their 1-0 victory
Everton had lost three and drawn two of their previous five home games but the atmosphere inside the ground at kick-off was so highly-charged and impassioned that it was spine-tingling.
The home players were pumped up, too. Straight from kick-off, the ball was played back to United goalkeeper Senne Lammens and Thierno Barry bore down on him and charged down his kick, chasing it and chasing it until it rolled slowly out of play near the corner flag.
United interrupted the atmosphere inside the first five minutes. Bryan Mbeumo crossed from the left, Matheus Cunha mishit his shot but it landed at the feet of Amad. Amad fired the ball goalwards and Jordan Pickford could only slow it, not stop it. James Tarkowski fell over as he chased back but kicked the ball off the line from a prone position.
The game slowed a little after its hectic beginning. Bruno Fernandes produced one particularly sweet turn that sat an Everton defender down on his backside and Michael Keane hit one majestic 50-yard crossfield pass to Iliman Ndiaye that Ndiaye wasted. Mostly, though both teams cancelled each other out.
The half petered out, stifled by attrition. Lammens saved smartly from a well-struck free-kick by James Garner, Mbeumo pulled a shot wide of the post when he should have done better and Fernandes complained long, loud and bitterly to the referee about an offence no one else appeared to have seen.
The second half began with another flurry. Everton fashioned their best chance of the match with their first attack. Ndiaye squared the ball to Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall on the edge of the United area, he moved it on to Harrison Armstrong but Armstrong’s sidefoot shot was too close to Lammens and comfortably saved.
Two minutes later, United went close, too. Kobbie Mainoo won the ball on the right, and bent the ball around the back of the Everton defence. Tarkowski tried to clear it but it looped up into the air and Mbeumo ran on it. He only had Pickford to beat but he was shooting from a tight angle and he ballooned his volley high over the bar.
Mbemo was at the heart of the action again soon afterwards when he chased after Tarkowski as he tried to shepherd a ball back to Pickford. Tarkowski saw him coming and administered a pre-emptive shoulder barge to his chest. Mbeumo went down hard and United demanded punishment for Tarkowski. The referee refused to listen.
Matheus Cunha took the acclaim of his team-mates after his pass helped set up the goal
Man United survived a succession of Everton corners to preserve their narrow advantage
Everywhere, there were moments that summed up a relentlessly frustrating night. Benjamin Sesko, on for Amad, set Cunha free on a counter-attack. Cunha burst into the Everton half with blistering pace and just as he faced the choice of whether to shoot or pass to Sesko, he lost his footing and tumbled to the turf in a heap.
The next time United broke away, though, they made it count. It was a superb, flawless, lightning counter-attack. Cunha hit a raking ball out of defence into the path of Mbeumo, who outstripped Keane.
Mbeumo checked inside and saw Sesko hurtling down the middle. He played a perfectly-weighted pass towards him so that Sesko did not even have to break his stride. Sesko met it first time and he met it cleanly. It sped past Pickford so fast he barely moved.
The United fans celebrated in the corner next to the goal. The Everton fans grew more and more irate at the referee’s perceived failure to give enough decisions their way. Pickford was booked for remonstrating a little too forcefully about a delay he did not think should have been a delay at all.
Everton pressed for an equaliser. The South Stand at the stadium, a steepling construction that towers over the Mersey estuary behind it, roared Everton on. They forced a couple of corners but the United defence stood strong.
Eight minutes from the end, Lammens produced an outstanding one-handed save from a thunderbolt of a shot from Keane.
