Manchester United vs. West Brom: Score and Reaction from 2015 Premier League

Manchester United laboured to a 2-0 win over West Bromwich Albion at Old Trafford in the Premier League on Saturday to keep the pressure on Manchester City and Arsenal at the top of the table.

Jesse Lingard opened the scoring early in the second half in another largely tedious performance from the hosts, before Juan Mata sealed the win with a late penalty, which saw Gareth McAuley sent off.

With West Brom set up defensively, United were allowed to play much of their football in the visitors' half, but they found it difficult to break down the organised Baggies.

Teenager Cameron Borthwick-Jackson was included in United's squad, while Michael Carrick and Lingard retained their places following the win over CSKA Moscow on Tuesday.

The first half played out in similar fashion to United's midweek game, with the Red Devils controlling the lion's share of the possession but ultimately lacking incisiveness in the final third. Rob Dawson of the Manchester Evening News believed the team were missing Ander Herrera:

A promising bit of play after 10 minutes saw Marcos Rojo burst down the left after some neat passing from Anthony Martial and Lingard, but not a single United player made a run into the box to get on the end of his excellent delivery.

In the best chance of the half, Mata came close to breaking the deadlock from the edge of the area shortly after. Wayne Rooney picked him out well after shrugging off Jonny Evans, but the Spaniard's shot curled just wide.

Otherwise, the hosts struggled to create clear-cut chances against West Brom's wall of bodies, per Squawka Football:

The only other chances of note came at the end of the half. The first fell to Lingard, who raced clear onto Martial's pass only to see his shot blocked by an outstanding recovery tackle from Evans, before Martial himself forced a fairly routine save from Boaz Myhill with United's first effort on target.

OLI SCARFF/Getty Images

Dawson and the Times' James Ducker were two of many to highlight the Red Devils' continued failings up front, though their defence continues to impress:

United finally took the lead seven minutes after the break. Martial's cross was headed clear as far as Lingard 20 yards out, and the youngster showed remarkable composure to control the ball and send a curling strike into the bottom corner to net his first senior goal for the club.

Jon Super/Associated Press

The hosts then sought to sit back on their lead rather than push on in search of a second, which slowly coaxed the visitors out of their shell.

Salomon Rondon—who cut a frustrated figure as the Baggies' sole outlet up front—almost connected with a James McClean cross, while Evans was inches from touching Darren Fletcher's header past David De Gea.

Substitute Saido Berahino missed a golden opportunity to score when he sent a completely free header well over from just six yards out.

The game looked to have petered out when McAuley brought down Martial to deny a clear goalscoring opportunity, earning the defender a red card and United a penalty, which Mata coolly converted.

The Red Devils' strong defensive foundation is impressive and could well keep them firmly in the title race right through the season, but once again, they have failed to convince in attack.

In their next outing, United take on Watford. Unless manager Louis van Gaal can work miracles during the international break—unlikely, as United will lose most of their players—the defensively sound and well-organised Hornets will be firmly in contention for a positive result, and United fans will have another match to forget.

Post-Match Reaction

According to BBC Sport's Gary Rose, Van Gaal believed the match was made difficult by West Brom's defensive set-up:

"

Everybody knows who has played football that the most difficult way to score is against a very defensive team. The space is only on the wings and we have tried to do that.

The only way you can play against such a defensive, organised team is the way we do it, you need patience. In the second half West Brom are more tired and the chances come. The goal changed the game, we had more space. Then you can see the qualities of Anthony Martial, and we score the second goal out of his actions.

"

Baggies boss Tony Pulis was disappointed with his side's defending for the two goals. Per Rose, he said: "After half-time the game opened up and we got more into it but the first goal is poor from us."

He added: "I'm disappointed for the players—most of my sides don't lack effort and commitment—we've just switched off and been punished. Gareth McAuley [for the red card and penalty] should have stayed on his feet and if the kid scores, the kid scores."