On the 21st of April Manchester United lined up against Coventry in the second match of the 2024 FA cup at the grand venue of Wembley. Manchester United, a premier league side came into the game with a naïve confidence given the championship status of Coventry a team looking to make their first FA cup final since 1987.

The passion and energy of the Coventry fans was evident far before kick-off, the “Sky Blue Army” as their fans are known were singing on mass around the stadium and it must be said that they out did the Manchester United fans for energy going into the game. Energy in the stadium before the match was high, United fans hoping for an easy victory against what should be a weak team whilst Coventry wanted a sprinkle of FA cup magic.

The game kicked off and as expected Manchester United asserted dominance on the game, Coventry showed moments of promise on their counter attacks however the first 70 minutes were ultimately a cruise for United, scoring in the 23rd, 45th and 58th minutes. Yet in a typical Manchester United fashion all sense of confidence and calm dissipated in the space of around 10 minutes. In the 71st minute Coventry tucked away their first and yet United failed to react to the oncoming threat demonstrating a naïve complacence for which they were punished by goals in the 75th minute and then a last-minute penalty which brought the score to 3-3 and forced the game into extra time.

A further intolerable goalless 30 minutes for United fans and exhilarating for Coventry fans everyone was readying themselves for penalties in the dying ambers of the match, the 119th minute. Yet out of the blue Coventry struck, launching a counterattack from their half that saw them slot away a goal that was to mark a miraculous win. In that moment a wave of Manchester United fans began to leave the stadium yet after a few minutes the goal was to be disallowed by a toenail for being offside.

The game was then progressed to penalties, Manchester United’s Casemiro stepped up to take the first and much to the delight of Coventry fans placed it straight into the keepers’ hands in a woeful attempt to score. The next two for either side were converted however Andre Onnana’s save on the 3rd Coventry penalty and the consequent pressure on their fourth penalty which was missed by a great margin resulted in a partly emphatic and partly troublesome victory for Manchester United to claim their FA cup final spot.