5 talking points as Mata, Rashford and Greenwood earn Man Utd victory over Luton

Manchester United will face Preston or Brighton in round four of the Carabao Cup next week after they eventually saw off a determined Luton Town at Kenilworth Road.

With Ole Gunnar Solskjaer making 10 changes from United’s Premier League defeat at home to Crystal Palace last weekend, only Harry Maguire survived from the side which were beaten 3-1 by the Eagles.

United’s understudies failed to show much composure in the first half though, until George Moncur tripped Brandon Williams in the penalty area before half-time to allow Juan Mata to slot home from the spot.

United debutant Dean Henderson made a good late save from Tom Lockyer to keep the scores level, before substitutes Marcus Rashford and Mason Greenwood emerged from the bench late on to fire United through.

Here are the game’s talking points.

1. Dean Henderson finally makes his bow

So this was it then for Dean Henderson.

After a century and a half’s worth of appearances away from the club on loan at Stockport, Grimsby, Shrewsbury and most notably at Sheffield United, the moment that the 23-year-old would have long dreamed about came at an empty Kenilworth Road on a Tuesday night.

Life can be strange like that.

Henderson didn’t disappoint on his United senior debut, largely because he didn’t really have much to do.

He could have been forgiven for hoping that his defenders eased off a little and made him have to pull off a save or two earlier in the game, but his late stop from Lockyer showed his qualities.

2. Brandon Williams shouldn’t be ignored

We’ve known that left-back is one of the numerous positions that United have wanted to strengthen in this summer, with all indications pointing to Porto’s Alex Telles soon becoming the man to fill that void.

It was Luke Shaw who started there in the defeat to Crystal Palace at the weekend though, all of which made Williams’ selection here an interesting one.

The youngster showed enough in his breakthrough season last year to make it clear that he has quality though, and whatever ends up happening with Telles he surely should not be forgotten about.

He was promising again here, and still deserves game-time whenever Solskjaer can give it to him.

3. Juan Mata is the most composed of the understudies

This was a big game for some of United’s fringe players, with Saturday’s defeat to Palace sharpening minds and the focus on Solskjaer’s squad, both the current one and the potential one he could have on his hands if only the club could complete their transfers.

Jesse Lingard and Odion Ighalo might never be able to shift their status from simple squad men, and nothing they did here helped that cause, but Mata was genuinely bright and resourceful on a night when he decorated his display with a goal.

Could the Spaniard’s brand of experience and dependability be of use in the Premier League?

4. Solskjaer leaves it late again

Solskjaer had some big names on his bench at Kenilworth Road, but again he seemed reluctant to use them.

The Norwegian has often been criticised for his failure to change things from the bench for United in the past, and it was surprise that he waited until the 78th minute to bring on Rashford, Greenwood and Bruno Fernandes.

You’d have thought that the game could have been killed off if they’d have come on earlier.

As it was they only needed 12 minutes to do the job.

5. Luton will give plenty of sides a game this season

Having won both of their Championship games this season, Luton and boss Nathan Jones sprang into this game in fine fettle and determined to give United a game.

This was one of the occasions when you were left lamenting the lack of fans, and you can only wonder what their addition to the typically tight Kenilworth Road setting would have added to this occasion.

Luton showed plenty of fight, and will bruise some egos this season.