They were so overjoyed an advertising hoarding collapsed.
Their passion is forgivable. It has been a while since "We're the famous Man United and we're going to Wem-ber-ley" was chanted with such gusto and United are 90 minutes away from scheduling a hotel in London for the final weekend of February.
Fernandes's 89th minute piledriver is as good as a contest-killer ahead of next week's second leg at Old Trafford. United were good and their fans great. Fernandes was the last to applaud them, handing one his shirt.
United had to buck the trend of narrow wins on the road sooner or later and Forest was an opportune occasion. They had been undefeated at home since September, beating Liverpool and securing a creditable draw with Chelsea. Three-nil is a sound statement.
Finally, United won away from home by more than one goal in domestic competition all season. They threatened to make their evening a taxing one in a 25-minute portion that encapsulated Erik ten Hag's work in progress.
United had rarely been as dominant during Ten Hag's tenure as in the first 20 minutes, abruptly halted when they charitably engineered an equaliser. Alas, VAR determined Sam Surridge was a foot offside.
In a half where United's inability to put teams to the sword was glaring, they ended it with a two-goal advantage. This was a week to reassess and reset after two galling results north and south of the Thames last week, the cup commitments a timely respite from the Premier League. Forest were vanquished.
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