Stoke City 0-2 Manchester United: Hail stops play, Young and Evra stop Stoke

It turns out that nobody can do it on a wet Wednesday in Stoke. Not when it's hailing, at least - Manchester United's 2-0 victory in the Potteries was held up by Mark Clattenburg deciding to briefly postpone the game due a hailstorm, but United picked themselves up and put the hosts to the sword through Patrice Evra and Ashley Young in the second half.

A combination of conditions and some rather lacklustre play from United's fringe players (notably Ashley Young and the diabolical Anderson) led to a pretty much unwatchable and uneventful first half, the most interesting part of which was by far the stoppage.

Yet in the second half, United did enough to get through. Ashley Young fired home a ferocious strike from distance which was too powerful for Thomas Sorensen, before Patrice Evra scored the second. From open play. With his right foot. And it was a good goal, too, curled into the far corner.

Surprisingly, the world didn't end as a result of either of those two things, and United are now ready to go to the semi-finals, where they will face Sunderland. It's looking like a good possibility of winning our first silverware under David Moyes, although we may well have to beat City in the final to do so.