Marcus Rashford scored twice late on as Manchester United swept into the Carabao Cup semi-finals.
Dean Holden's spirited Charlton side pushed United all the way, but were ultimately undone by a moment of class from Antony in the first-half and Rashford's late double. Charlton may be mid-table in League One, but they played with an ebullience and enterprise that forced Erik ten Hag to bring on United's big names to see out the tie.
United scarped through to the last four, with Ten Hag moving ever closer to ending the club's seven-year wait for a trophy, their longest spell without silverware for four decades. Ten Hag made eight changes from the side that beat Everton 3-1 in the FA Cup the previous Friday, Tyrell Malacia, Diogo Dalot and Antony the only players to keep their places.
There was a debut for 17-year-old Kobbie Mainoo, a Stockport-born midfielder who has been at United since he was nine and who had made the first-team bench on two previous occasions. Mainoo has continued to play for United's Under-21s this season, but Ten Hag was said to have been growing more and more impressed with him and decided to hand him his first-team debut.
United goalkeeper Tom Heaton, 36, was handed a full debut, 20 years after making his first appearance for the club's reserves. Ten Hag loaded his bench with big names as an insurance option, including Marcus Rashford, who had scored in his last seven home games, Casemiro and Christian Eriksen.
League One Charlton had served notice of their ability to cause an upset by knocking out Premier League Brighton in the previous round after a penalty shoot-out at the Valley. Salford-born boss Holden, who took over the Addicks on December 20, is a lifelong United fan, a former ball-boy at Old Trafford and season-ticket holder for 30 years.
As expected, United dominated from the start, Dalot shooting over early on when he should have hit the target, youngster Alejandro Garnacho twice threatening to score inside the first 10 minutes. When Charlton were able to escape the pressure applied by United, their most dangerous player was Corey Blackett-Taylor, who kept Dalot busy down the left with his pace and direct running.
But Blackett-Taylor was culpable in the 21 st minute, slow to close down Antony, who had time to settle himself before curling a sublime left-foot shot into the top far corner to put United 1-0 up. Fred thudded a post with a fine free-kick as United pushed to put the tie beyond their opponents, but Charlton managed to keep the deficit to one at the break with some resolute defending.
The visitors were not without chances themselves, Albie Morgan sending a free-kick just wide 10 minutes before half-time, but theirs was largely a policy of containment, rather than attack. Anthony Elanga had the ball in the Charlton net four minutes after the restart, but the goal was correctly ruled out for offside.
With Charlton growing in confidence and threatening to equalise, Ten Hag made a triple change, bringing on the experienced trio of Casemiro, Eriksen and Rashford to take back control. Garnacho had a shot saved with 25 minutes left, as Holden's side repelled everything that was thrown at them, until Rashford sealed the tie with his two late goals.
