Middlesbrough boss Chris Wilder has admitted he expected his side's controversial equaliser against Manchester United to be ruled out.
Matt Crooks slid in to put the Championship side level in the second half and spark jubilant scenes amongst the 9,500 fans in the away end, but Duncan Watmore had handled in the build-up and Wilder feared the worst.
Anthony Taylor gave the goal on the pitch but the ball had clearly struck Watmore's hand, only for Video Assistant Referee Stuart Atwell to give the goal, ruling it had been an accidental handball and as Crooks had the final touch it couldn't be ruled out.
United were furious at that decision but Wilder was grateful for the slice of luck. His side had struggled to get a foothold in the game until then, with the hosts ahead through Jadon Sancho's deflected first-half strike.
But after levelling Boro improved and held their nerve to progress on penalties, winning the shootout 8-7.
"We rode our luck and took our chances," said Wilder.
"The decisions that are made through VAR have changed since I left the Premier League - I thought straight away it was handball. I thought it would be chalked out and delighted it wasn't.
“The manager of Manchester United will be scratching his head at how they’ve not gone through. We got a couple of breaks and we took advantage of it."
Ralf Rangnick was bemused to see how the goal was allowed to stand after the clear handball.
"How can it be accidental if he controls the ball up in the air with his hand? It was clear it should not stand but in the end I was really surprised it stood," he said.
"In the first half we should have easily been 3-0 up and second half we had chances too. We should have won the game in normal time. On penalties it can happen what happened today."
