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• Erik ten Hag demands more from Alejandro Garnacho after Carabao Cup strike

  Erik ten Hag says Alejandro Garnacho was “not good enough” in his previous starts this season after the Manchester United teenager scored in the Carabao Cup victory against Crystal Palace.

  Having secured a much-needed Premier League victory at Burnley on Saturday evening, the Red Devils ran out comfortable 3-0 victors against Roy Hodgson’s south Londoners on Tuesday night.

  Casemiro scored and then crossed for Anthony Martial’s goal on a night started by Garnacho impressively putting the Carabao Cup holders ahead from Diogo Dalot’s cutback.

  The 19-year-old began United’s first two matches of the season, but this was the first time he was named in the starting line-up since the defeat to Tottenham five weeks ago.

  “You have seen at the start of the season we played him and then his contribution was not good enough,” manager Ten Hag said of the Argentina international.

  “But he also had some good actions. You see always he is a threat in the game even when he is not playing that well.

  “He has to learn when he does his job in defending he will always have his moment and he will always be decisive because he has great qualities.

  “As well, it’s not only off the ball. But I want to see like today, he is entering the box in the right spot to finish.

  “But I think it is quite normal for a player of his age that there is space for a lot of improvement.

  “Everyone likes him, the fans like him, the team likes him, I like him but we also have to demand from him and push him because he can act on a very high level but he has to show it every day.”

  United made seven alterations, as did Palace, ahead of Saturday’s Premier League reunion at Old Trafford.

  Ten Hag will hope Christian Eriksen and Scott McTominay can return from what the United boss called illness, so too left-back Sergio Reguilon.

  The on-loan Tottenham full-back’s absence meant Sofyan Amrabat filled in there on his first start for the club, before stepping into midfield at half-time.

  “Sofyan is a player, and that was one of the reasons we signed him, where the team needs him, he will play and he can play in more positions,” Ten Hag said.

  “Every player has his best position but he gives a certain dynamic in the game. We have seen today but also for him and many players, we just started.

  “That process was a little bit interrupted by the many injuries we have because when you can play a long time with the same team then you get routines, the players learn each other and it’s more automatic.

  “You see Mason (Mount), Amrabat, you see also others, they can contribute to our game and they will do.”

  As for Palace, Roy Hodgson had no arguments with the result as his side made a meek Carabao Cup exit in the third round.

  “I thought we were well beaten, basically,” said the Eagles boss, who saw Dean Henderson go off injured on his debut at former club United.

  “I thought they attacked better than we did, defended the few attacks we were able to mount quite comfortably.

  “As a result, unfortunately, you tend when that happens to only be looking at one possible result and that was the result they came up with.”

• Steven Naismith hails Hearts match-winner Alex Lowry

  Steven Naismith hailed match-winner Alex Lowry as a special talent after the on-loan Rangers player’s late goal sent Hearts into the Viaplay Cup semi-finals.

  Kilmarnock were in the ascendancy as the match edged closer to extra time, only for Lowry to strike in time added on to the regulation 90 minutes.

  Brad Lyons had earlier cancelled out Jorge Grant’s opener before Lowry claimed his first goal since moving on loan to Tynecastle last month to seal the victory.

  Naismith praised Lowry as one of the best young Scottish talents in the game but said he wanted to see more from the 20-year-old on a consistent basis.

  The Hearts manager said: “Alex has got brilliant ability.

  “I’m not sure I’ve seen in my whole footballing career a young Scottish player that I have been working with that has got such good … he can do things with a ball that a lot of others can’t.

  “I’ve challenged him to see more moments like that.

  “He’s been frustrated at not getting more game time but I said to him, you need to show moments and when you are on the park, you need to do more.”

  Naismith was pleased to have a Hampden Park semi-final to look forward to but warned that his team would need to follow up that result, starting with a trip to play Ross County this weekend.

  He added: “I was delighted to get through. It was the next step we needed to take.

  “At this club there’s a demand to get to semi-finals and finals and ultimately win silverware.

  “It’s a big win and everybody’s delighted but we do need to back that up.

  “Over the past few seasons we haven’t had good performances at Kilmarnock, and Ross County has been the same.”

  Kilmarnock manager Derek McInnes admitted he was frustrated that his players had unnecessarily chased a winning goal rather than waiting for extra time.

  He said: “I was angry [at full-time] that we’ve allowed that type of goal to decide the cup tie. We had Hearts where we wanted them. We were in charge of that tie in the second half.

  “We played the last phase of play as if we needed a goal to get back in the tie. We were guilty of trying to win it then. We were too excitable, too gung-ho to win a game of football in 90 minutes when we could have won the game in extra time.

  “It was all last-gasp and unnecessary, almost as if we were chasing a game to win it in 90 minutes when we didn’t need to. We could – and should – have won it in extra time. But we allowed an opportunity for Hearts and they took it.”

• Sam Bowen earns overdue win for Wealdstone

  Sam Bowen’s fine strike proved to be the difference as Wealdstone beat Woking in the Vanarama National League.

  The hosts had won just one of their previous seven games before Bowen struck from the edge of the box to seal a 1-0 victory.

  Bowen’s goal came just after the 15-minute mark and he almost repeated the feat five minutes later but this time shot wide.

  Goalkeeper Jed Ward made a number of crucial saves to keep Woking at bay as the home side secured the points.