Two Manchester United players held their nerve vs Brighton to follow Erik ten Hag trend

When Solly March stepped up to take Brighton's seventh penalty in the FA Cup semi-final that threatened to never end, there had been 17 successive spot-kicks scored past David de Gea in shootouts.

But it turned out De Gea didn't need to save one. After failing to stop any of Villarreal's in Gdansk two years ago, he was powerless to stop any of Brighton's brilliant penalties at Wembley, until March erred and fired over the crossbar. It was left to Victor Lindelof to finish the job, booking United an all-Manchester FA Cup final against City.

There will be plenty of pressure back under the Wembley arch on June 3. City might be chasing the second leg of a treble. United will be after a domestic cup double and they could be desperate to stop their rivals from repeating their own feat from 1999.

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But that is for another day. For now, United can toast a season that is back on track. After their calamitous collapse in Seville in midweek this was an afternoon that could have written off the final weeks of their season.

They showed the character and mentality that Ten Hag demands, however. This wasn't pretty by any stretch, but it was successful. Two players summed up that approach in the shootout.

When Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford made the walk from the Wembley centre circle they must have been suffering flashbacks to that July 2021 date against Italy, when they missed in the European Championship final. It was a night that knocked the confidence of both, but they scored decisively and stylishly this time. It might rid them of those demons once and for all.

And after a five-night trip away from Manchester, United returned north on Sunday night with progress