Manchester United midfielder Michael Carrick admitted his side were left frustrated at the final whistle after being forced to settle for a replay following a 1-1 draw with West Ham at Old Trafford in the Emirates FA Cup.
Anthony Martial was the hero for Louis van Gaal’s men as he levelled for United with just seven minutes remaining after West Ham midfielder Dimitri Payet had given the Hammers a 68th-minute lead.
Manchester United pressed for a winner in the final minutes and Carrick felt a lack of quality in the final third had prevented his side claiming an unlikely winner.
Man Utd 1-1 West Ham
Emirates FA Cup
Quarter final
Sunday 13 March
Old Trafford
“We will take the draw at the end but we were pressing for the winner,” he said.
“We were desperate to win the game and I always thought we would get back into it. It’s a big opportunity, it’s The FA Cup and we all want to go far in this competition.
“Sometimes you have to hold your hands up, it was a great free-kick but I thought we showed character to come back into the game and push for the winner.
“We were building pressure and we probably had more chances but the final ball didn’t quite happen for us and we didn’t work the goalkeeper enough.
“We had plenty of pressure and we were really pushing for the winner but it just didn’t quite happen and that’s frustrating.
“It was a good cup tie, end-to-end, there were shouts in both penalty areas and sometimes you get them and sometimes you don’t."
West Ham skipper Mark Noble hailed his side's display at Old Trafford – but admitted to feeling frustrated at not hanging onto their lead and progressing in the competition.
He said: “Coming to Old Trafford and playing like we did, especially first half really took the game to them and we probably should have been 2-0 up after 20 minutes – we missed some great chances.
“We got a fantastic goal from Dimitri, another very special free-kick – we will take a lot of confidence from that and now we have them at Upton Park which will be another very special occasion.
“I’m not going to jinx him and say too much about him because I want him to keep scoring but what he is doing at the minute is special.
“I’m a bit disappointed because I felt as though we should have come away with a win and it will be a very tough game at Upton Park.”
