VAR was a distraction here, and I hope that the confusion that surrounded the end of the first half doesn’t unfairly occupy the headlines. It was a mess, without a doubt, but it seems the decision was ultimately correct and the big problem seems to have been the wiggly lines that somehow made their way to the broadcasters.

Let’s concentrate on the actual football, though, which was entertaining, if only sporadically outstanding. Huddersfield fought hard, and played their way through midfield well, but their final delivery simply wasn’t good enough. Time and again they made it as far as the United defence but no further, with Smalling in particular winning countless headers and flinging his limbs in the way of various passes and shots. United were outfought and outplayed in midfield, but had the cutting edge at one end and the concentration and determination at the other. They had few chances, and only two shots on target, but that’s all they needed.

And with that, I’m done. Here’s a match report for you. Bye!

90+3 mins: A final substitution, Eric Bailly coming on for Lukaku.

90+1 mins: There will be three minutes of stoppage time, or thereabouts.

89 mins: Williams – another outstanding performer – crosses from the right and Mounie attempts an overhead kick, but it’s mishit and dribbles wide.

87 mins: A fine run down the left by Martial ends with his cut-back going just behind Lingard. Lukaku chases the ball, picks it up near the far corner, and then attempts a ludicrous shot from an insane angle. Goal kick.

87 mins: Lukaku, who has done little other than score the goals that have won the match, is named man of the match. An obvious choice, but I think Smalling probably deserves it more.

86 mins: Then Billing does good work on the edge of the area, before overhitting his through-ball which is collected by Romero.

86 mins: Williams goes on a fine run into the penalty area, but then passes to a defender.

85 mins: And he could have scored with his first touch! Sabiri runs clear of his marker, rises alone and heads over from six yards!

84 mins: Huddersfield win a corner, and their fans roar encouragement. Before taking it, they bring Abdelhamid Sabiri on for Van la Parra.

82 mins: Manchester United have only had two shots on target. Huddersfield have had five, but all of them from outside the area.

80 mins: Jesse Lingard is now on, replacing Mata.

76 mins: United bring Tony Martial on for Alexis Sanchez.

74 mins: Billing blasts in a shot from the edge of the area which Romero saves and eventually holds. Huddersfield have been competitive and committed and impressive, but have barely created anything and, when they have – I’m thinking of Tom Ince’s first-half shooting chance – they’ve panicked and wasted it.

74 mins: Now BT Sport say that picture isn’t necessarily what the VAR saw, it’s just a picture which demonstrates that the VAR wasn’t wrong. There still seem to be wobbly lines coming out of the VAR office.

72 mins: Young cuts the ball back to Lukaku, on the edge of the area, who is closed down before he can get the ball where he wants it.

71 mins: Two substitutions for Huddersfield: Scott Malone and Tommy Smith are on, while Kongolo and Hadergjonaj are off.

70 mins: Important update: the VAR was right all along. This, it turns out, was what he actually looked at. Who knows where the wobbly lines came from, that’s the real scandal here:

64 mins: Huddersfield continue to play pretty well, but this now looks like a severe case of justnotourdayitis.

60 mins: 33% of all Manchester United touches in Huddersfield’s penalty area have been goalbound shots.

59 mins: The ball had broken back to Billing, on the edge of United’s area, and he was just a few inches from having a fine shooting chance. But it didn’t quite fall right, he got his feet a bit muddled, the ball was stolen off his toe and from there United broke. Still, a fine finish and an excellent assist.

55 mins: Billing shoots this time, and also hits the wall.

53 mins: Williams is fouled (well, he falls over near a United player) just outside the area and Huddersfield get another shooting chnce, even better than the last.

51 mins: Ince’s shot hits the wall and deflects to Van la Parra, who would have had a tap-in had he only touched the ball. Instead, he swung his foot and missed it.

50 mins: Now Huddersfield have a tasty shooting chance from a free kick, just outside the area, just to the right of goal. Ince and Billing stand over the ball.

50 mins: Hadergjonaj gets into a great position on the right, but Carrick puts himself in the right spot, level with the near post, to deal with the cross.

49 mins: That’s precisely why it’s funny. The wobbliness is only incidental. It’s like it was drawn on the screen in crayon by a primary school kid.

48 mins: For a moment there McTominay seemed about to play Sanchez in for a long, clear run on goal. But then a defender got his foot in the way, so he didn’t.

46 mins: Peeeeeep! They’re off! Again!

The players are back out. More action imminent.

This wobbly line is the funniest thing I’ve seen (imposed) on a football field for a very long time.

Consensus on this whole VAR business appears to be: Eh? Are you sure?

BT Sport are now reporting that Neil Swarbrick did actually have straight lines to look at after all. I’m a fan of VAR in principle, but this has been a terrible muddle.

The VAR’s decision was informed by this comedy version:

Here’s that offside decision, with BT Sport’s own, straight line rather than the VAR’s comedy wobbly ones. It looks like the closest of marginal decisions to me, rather than a clear and obvious mistake.

40+5 mins: They’re still playing. United win a free-kick on the left, Sanchez takes it and Matic strokes it on – but this is also ruled out for offside.

45+3 mins: Initial replays of the second “goal”, showing the blue lines that help the VAR with his decision-making, were a long way from being conclusive, with the blue lines comically misplaced at a jarring angle.

45+2 mins: The VAR is checking his replays, leaving us watching the referee holding his hand to his ear.

44 mins: A bit of pre-halftimely lull, with the game turning into a bit of an error-strewn midfield scrap.

41 mins: A bit of sustained United pressure now, but they can’t work their way into the penalty area and Huddersfield eventually clear.

38 mins: A bit of a pause, with Steve Mounie on the floor in the centre circle.

36 mins: Kongolo races McTominay with the ball up for grabs, ducks in front of his opponent and then falls over. Was he tripped, or did he fall? The referee waves play on, but Kongolo is so sure it was a foul that he grabs the ball, so United end up with a free kick for handball.

33 mins: Yet another long-range shot from Huddersfield, Billing this time giving Romero some catching practice.

31 mins: Huddersfield win a corner, which Ince sends into the penalty area. Smalling and Lindelof go for it and head each other, though one of them does at least send the ball out of play for another corner, which is overhit.

28 mins: Another optimistic shot from Huddersfield: Williams takes aim from 30 yards, and it flies into Romero’s arms.

26 mins: United just had a corner on the left. Sanchez took it, and Mata came over from the right to offer him a short option, which was ignored. The cross was then cleared to Young, who looked for someone on the right, where Mata should have been, and with nobody there had to go backwards, and the ball was swiftly lost. All so that Mata could be ignored near the other corner flag.

24 mins: Huddersfield aren’t just making hay down the right, they’re making giant haystacks. There’s so much space there they could drive a combine harvester down it.

22 mins: Now Hadergjonaj curls in an excellent low cross, again from the right, but it’s just too strong for Ince, who flings himself at the ball and misses.

21 mins: Williams goes on an excellent run into the penalty area before chipping in a cross from the byline, but though Van la Parra heads it goalwards it’s too weak to trouble Romero.

18 mins: Mata’s corner drops invitingly for Smalling, who is so astonished by this turn of events that he doesn’t do anything at all, and a defender hacks it away.

18 mins: United have an attack! Young’s cross from the right, though, is turned behind for a corner.

17 mins: United pass the ball about in defence again, and again they don’t do it very well. They are pushed further and further back until Young, pretty much on his own goal-line, is finally forced to bonk a long, high ball forward, and Huddersfield win it back again.

14 mins: Hadergjonaj gets the ball on the right, cuts inside a bit and then has a totally wasteful shot from a far from encouraging distance and angle. Romero collects.

13 mins: United take the pace out of the game a bit, passing the ball about in their own half. But then Romero passes to Lindelof on the left, and he lets the ball run under his foot and out of play.

10 mins: I do believe United haven’t been out of their own half since they scored.

9 mins: The home side continue to push. Smalling heads away a cross from the right, and Kongolo wins a corner on the left.

6 mins: Chance for Huddersfield! Van la Parra’s cross hits Young in the face and bounces back to Billing, whose low pass finds Ince in space inside the area. He spins and sends an instant low shot across goal and wide, when he had time to assess his options.

5 mins: So much for David Wagner’s hope that United would underperform. Still, Huddersfield’s fans don’t seem to have been silenced at all, so that’s something.

2 mins: Quaner jinks his way off the right wing and into the penalty area, before shooting low but well wide of goal.

1 min: He has kicked off!

Romelu Lukaku stands over the ball, ready to kick off.

And they’re out. Meanwhile in Wembley, VAR Neil Swarbrick settles in front of his TV, hoping for a quiet night.

The players are in the tunnel, and the rain has started to fall.

David Wagner has a chat, firstly on what he has done to inspire his team’s recent good form:

It wasn’t me, it was only the group and the players I think. After our defeat at Old Trafford we said, come on boys, now our part starts with the fixtures in front of us which are maybe more competitive than the last fixtures. Now we need to show what the players are capable of. They have played very good football, created chances and defensively were solid and strong. We had two strong performances and two good results and now we are happy. Now comes United.

We’ve seen that you have to make everything right and on your best to be a competitor first of all, and then to beat them United should not be on their best. We’ll see what happens today. We’re totally excited. This is a present for us supporters. Unbelievable that we play at home Manchester United in the fifth round and we will do our best to come through it.

More from Mourinho, first on the call-ups for Ethan Hamilton and Angel Gomes:

I think it’s a beautiful moment for the player, even if they don’t play. Gomes did play for us a couple of times in the FA Cup. Hamilton, it’s the first time on the bench. I think it’s beautiful for them. Of course I have on the bench four senior players ready to play, so I’m not going to play Gomes or Hamilton but I’m pleased to have them and I’m sure for them it’s also a moment.

Here [when they lost in October] we had a couple of mistakes and we paid for that. At our house yes we had a very well organised wall, very difficult for us to break, but I think we played well and when we scored the first goal we kept control. Today they’re in their natural habitat where they play more comfortably and I’m sure they’ll want to try to arrive at Wembley, which is a dream for everyone.

So that’s four changes for Huddersfield, with Terence Kongolo, Philip Billing, Collin Quaner and Danny Williams coming in. United make six changes: Romero, Lindelof, Shaw, Carrick, McTominay and Mata are in or, in other words, Alexis Sanchez, Romelu Lukaku, Chris Smalling, Nemanja Matic and Ashley Young are still in.

Here’s Jose Mourinho on what exactly is up with Paul Pogba:

I don’t know and honestly I don’t care. I focus on the game and just the game and since the moment I know Paul cannot play, I don’t think about Paul. After the match, not now.

Hello world!

So, one thing to jot down in your mental notebook before we go any further: Paul Pogba, who spent all but the last 25 minutes of Manchester United’s last game against Huddersfield a couple of weeks back on the bench and missed their 2-1 defeat here back in October with a thigh injury, is feeling poorly, and will not be play this time either.

Pogba has been replaced in the squad by the 19-year-old Scottish midfielder Ethan Hamilton. Hamilton played an Under-23 match against Chelsea on Friday, so is unlikely to play much of a part today. Also in the squad is 17-year-old attacking midfielder Angel Gomes. Interesting fact: Gomes’s godfather is the former Manchester United winger Nani. “When I was younger, he used to be my idol,” he says. “I used to watch him and even practice his backflips on the trampoline”

Meanwhile David de Gea, who few expected to start but might have been on the bench, has been spotted out and about in Hale this afternoon, so he won’t be involved either.

Huddersfield will also be missing a couple of players, with Aaron Mooy and Alex Pritchard both injured. Still, they will go at this with everything they’ve got, and with United possibly with half an eye on Wednesday’s Champions League visit to Sevilla, there is upset potential here. Can the lightning that struck back in October strike again today? I for one am looking forward to finding out.

Simon will be here shortly. In the meantime you can read José Mourinho’s thoughts on the ‘lies’ surrounding Paul Pogba’s Manchester United future …