Scott McTominay sent Manchester United into the FA Cup quarter-finals as his extra-time strike sealed a hard-fought 1-0 win against West Ham on Tuesday in a performance that was well below their best, in a scrappy fifth round tie at freezing, snow-dusted Old Trafford.

A fine finish from Scotland midfielder McTominay ensured that scrapy was good enough and United advanced to the last eight for a seventh successive season.

The Red Devils last won the FA Cup in 2016 and McTominay’s third goal in three games kept them in the hunt to lift the trophy for the 13th time.

After the frustration of the late Everton equaliser that dented their Premier League title challenge on Saturday, this was an essential result to lift the mood at Old Trafford.

It was hardly an eye-catching performance however, with United labouring against defensive West Ham until McTominay and Bruno Fernandes were introduced as second half substitutes.

Amad Diallo was named on the United bench for the first time since the 18-year-old’s January move from Atalanta as Solskjaer made six changes.

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Lukasz Fabianski prevented United from taking the lead in the 27th minute when he brilliantly pushed Victor Lindelof’s header onto the post.

There was a nasty clash of heads between West Ham’s Issa Diop and United’s Anthony Martial towards the end of the first half.

Both continued after treatment but Diop did not return in the second half due to concussion.

“To clarify, Issa Diop was replaced as a concussion substitute, meaning we can now make a total of six changes, as can Manchester United, if we see fit,” West Ham said in a statement.

Fabianski saved well from Marcus Rashford before the game went into extra-time.

McTominay finally made the breakthrough in the 97th minute.

Martial’s cross was only half-cleared and Rashford’s deft touch teed up McTominay to steer a composed strike past Fabianski from just inside the area.