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Manchester United u21s hosted Liverpool on Friday night as the young stars were given a chance to play under the lights at Old Trafford.
Travis Binnion’s side were looking to follow in the steps of the u18s who provided a 1-9 thumping to Liverpool last week but it was the visitors who got off on the stronger foot.
A strong Liverpool side saw a number of players involved who have already made their senior debut, including Kaide Gordon who hit the post in the seventh minute and the saw the ball spin along the goalline and narrowly away from danger.
Charlie McNeill’s pressing from the front created an opportunity for United when he blocked the keeper’s clearance and the ball looped up for the striker to have attempt at goal but he couldn’t sort his feet out to connect on the volley properly, which saw the chance go begging.
United had the edge of the possession in the opening stages but Liverpool’s front three were proving a handful to deal with. Trent Kone-Doherty was found open in the box but combination of Sam Murray and Sonny Aljofree applied an important block to keep the Irish youth international out.
McNeill then looked to match Bruno Fernandes’ effort from last week when he launched a shot from 50 yards out and was only denied by a fingertip save as the ball looked to creep in just under the crossbar.
Chances were coming United’s way and in the 20th minute Ethan Ennis played to Ruben Curley on the left wing, who cut back for the arriving Maxi Oyedele to soar it over the bar from 12 yards out.
Liverpool weren’t so wasteful with their chances though and took the lead in the 23rd minute. A loose back pass from Oyedele put Aljofree in trouble and he was beat easily by Jayden Danns before Danns forced a big save from Elyh Harrison. But United’s keeper couldn’t do much beyond push it into the path of Kone-Doherty to tap in.
Ennis looked to create an opening against his former club with his dribbling but a poor final product saw much of it go to waste, leaving it 0-1 going into the break.
Into the second half, Ennis was still going for it and got to the byline to cross low but a slight hand from the keeper did enough to tip the ball away from Missin at the back post.
Gordon was given too much space at the top of the box to get unchallenged shot off and made United pay as he made it 0-2.
United struggled to create much of note in the second half and a long ball launched a counter attack for Liverpool to finish the match 0-3 thanks to Danns.
The loss sees United fall two places in the table down to 14th place.
United: Harrison, Missin, Bennett, Aljofree, Jackson, Murray, Baumann, Oyedele, Curley, Ennis, McNeill
Unused subs: Wooster, McAllister
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