Fletcher Evans Smalling Buttner
Manchester United players walk off the field dejected after losing to Swansea in the FA Cup third round, January 5. Reuters

Misery, they say, loves company. And right now misery is best friends with Old Trafford.

In yet another the-quicker-we-forget-this-the-better encounter at the Theatre of Dreams for the home side, Swansea became the fifth team this season to come away from Manchester United with a victory.

Four sides had already breached the Old Trafford fort in the Premier League this season, the latest of them being Tottenham's win 2-1 win on New Year's Day, and Swansea added an FA Cup scalp, their first ever win of any kind at the great stadium, to the woeful season, sealing progress from the third round with the same scoreline.

Wayne Routledge opened the scoring for Swansea, latching onto a delightful through ball from Alejandro Pozuelo, before calmly chipping the ball over Anders Lindegaard.

The moans and groans grew at Old Trafford with that goal in the 12th minute, but United were back in it four minutes later, when Javier Hernandez guided in from close-range off a corker of a cross from Patrice Evra's understudy Alexander Buttner.

United should have gone for the jugular after the equaliser, but failed to find their attacking rhythm in the final third yet again, allowing Swansea to snatch a winner in the 90th minute courtesy a powerful Wilfried Bony header off a cross from Routledge.

"It was a dream finish," Bony said. "I've scored quite a few times late on and it is important to keep your concentration until the very end. You never know when the chances might come, but when they do you need to score.

"As a striker it's always good to score, but the most important thing was for us to stay focussed and try to push on and get a chance. But to score in the last minute was fantastic."

Prior to that winner, United were forced to play with ten men for the final ten minutes when Fabio Da Silva received a straight red card, just four minutes after coming on for the injured Rio Ferdinand, for a challenge on Jose Canas.

"We didn't do enough to win it, we made some opportunities but they weren't enough," will-I-still-have-a-job-come-the-end-of-this-month United manager David Moyes told BT Sport. "When we went down to 10 men we just needed to see it out and try to force a replay, but we didn't get that far. We kept trying to go for it and got caught a little bit and lost the second goal.

"I thought [Routledge's goal] was the only time they had been up the park in the first 15 minutes. For us to lose a goal was poor, but we got back right away. We had time to make more chances, make more goals. We maybe abused it, the amount of opportunities we got, and didn't finish one better," he added on MUTV.

"That's the disappointing thing as we'd come back from a goal behind and I thought for long periods we had control of the game, but we didn't get a goal or create enough chances."

For Swansea manager Michael Laudrup it was a morale-boosting victory after a long winless run, and the Welsh side, no doubt, will take the confidence into their next English Premier League game - at Old Trafford, against Manchester United next Saturday.

"I think it's a great day for the players and for the fans as well," Laudrup said. "When you win at certain grounds, it is something very special for people who have only watched the Premier League for the last two and a half years.

"It's another game where we showed confidence, which I think we have done in the last few games. We just needed a win, and today we got it in the last moments."