Manchester United’s second-string struggled badly to overcome non-league Crawley Town, who were unlucky not to leave Old Trafford with a draw from this FA Cup fifth round tie.

United fielded only two of their starting line-up against Manchester City seven days previously and struggled early on.

Wes Brown’s 28^th-minute header from Darron Gibson’s cross from the left put them ahead. And full-back Fabio da Silva could only find the side-netting when another Gibson pass sent him clear on 34 minutes.

While Gabriel Obertan’s right-foot shot from the edge of the box four minutes later was well saved low to his left by Crawley keeper Michel Kuipers.

Crawley acquitted themselves well in the first half and were even better after the break, with United struggling to regain the initiative, despite adding Wayne Rooney and Darren Fletcher to their ranks.

Centre-back David Hunt shinned a left-footed chance wide from Richard Brodie’s inswinging left-wing cross on 71 minutes when well-placed ten yards out. Matt Tubbs’ spectacular 73^rd-minute overhead effort was bravely deflected over by Brown’s header.

And Brodie’s late looping header beat United keeper Anders Lindegaard but landed on the top of the crossbar to deny Crawley the replay their efforts arguably merited