JOSE Mourinho praised substitutes Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Paul Pogba for showing the attitude needed to carry Manchester United past Blackburn and into the quarter-finals of the FA Cup where they will face Chelsea.

Danny Graham gave the Ewood Park hosts a shock 17th-minute lead but Marcus Rashford equalised 10 minutes later and with 15 minutes remaining, Ibrahimovic tucked away Pogba’s searching long pass to secure a 2-1 win that will take them to Stamford Bridge in the last eight.

In the other ties, Middlesbrough will host Huddersfield or Manchester City; Tottenham, who won 3-0 at Fulham yesterday, will be at home to Millwall; and the winner of tonight’s clash between Sutton United and Arsenal will welcome Lincoln City. The matches will be played over the weekend of March 10-13.

Mourinho said after his side’s victory: “I think the attitude of every player was really good. When I have important players on the bench, I can try to make an impact. It depends also on their mentality and they were more than ready to come with the right attitude for the team.”

United had to dig deep after falling behind to Graham’s well-worked opener. “Blackburn were a good team, better than the Blackburn of the Championship,” said Mourinho. “They had an amazing attitude and belief, they gave us a really good match and with a different attitude we could have lost this match. I think we deserved to win, but I think Blackburn would also have deserved to go to Old Trafford. But this is better for them – now they can focus on the Championship.”

Ibrahimovic echoed his manager’s comments that other sides raise their game against their side. “Since I came to England every game – especially in the FA Cup – is like a final,” he said.

“It doesn’t matter if they play in the Championship. So many games have not gone to the favourites. We don’t underestimate anybody.

“The team did well before the changes, but in the second half, me and Paul came in to boost that up a bit. He gave a great ball and I scored a goal.

“We are happy with the win. We are still in every tournament. We will keep working hard, keep going and now is the decisive moment.”

Harry Kane netted a hat-trick as Tottenham cruised past Fulham – then revealed he feared he was going to be substituted before he had the chance to complete his treble.

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Christian Eriksen set up the first two for the England striker, after 17 minutes and 52 minutes, with Dele Alli providing a neat pass for the third after 73 minutes. The result was a welcome one for Mauricio Pochettino, who named a strong line-up on the back of two straight losses.

Kane had just fired over the bar when he thought his manager was preparing to make a change. However, he remained on the pitch to fire in his third goal, before being taken off the rapturous applause from the travelling fans.

Kane said: “I thought he (Pochettino) was going to take me off soon. When I put it over the bar I thought that was going to be the last chance I was going to have, but luckily I managed to sneak [the hat-trick] in before I was taken off.”

The forward had few complaints about the team’s overall performance, although he believes they had more goals in them.

However, he was more than happy to be in the draw for the sixth round, especially with the second leg of their Europa League last-32 tie against Gent to come on Thursday, in which Spurs will attempt to overturn a 1-0 deficit.

“We played very well, passed the ball,” Kane said. “We probably should have had a few more goals but it was great game all round and we’re happy to be going home with the win ahead of Thursday.”