Manchester United u21s visited Chelsea at Kingsmeadow on Friday night.
A wet and miserable night was livened with some exciting football for the 876 spectators in attendance.
United almost had the perfect start when Jack Moorhouse pressed the keeper and won the ball but his touch pushed the ball out for a goal kick.
Just seven minutes in, Jack Fletcher centred for Gabriele Biancheri to shoot, but the Chelsea keeper Ted Curd’s trailing leg was enough to keep it out.
It was all United in the opening stages and they threatened again when Finley McAllister switched play to Harry Amass, who beat his man with a perfect first touch into space to centre to Jack Fletcher whose strike was blocked.
Immediately up the other end, Chelsea countered to take the lead in the 14th minute against the run of play through Ryan Kavuma-McQueen.
McAllister was at the heart of all the action for United. He slipped through Biancheri, who tried to chip the keeper, but another huge save from Curd denied the Welshman.
It looked to be another one of those days just after the half hour mark when three dangerous corners in a row saw Chelsea scrambling to clear in front of goal as United just couldn’t find the finish.
Chelsea’s speed on the counter was causing trouble to the United backline itself though and the home side doubled their lead just before the break.
Out of nowhere, a ball over the top to Ato Ampah sent him through to put it past Will Murdock with a sliding finish.
Into the second half, Moorhouse caught Curd out again, beating him to a ball down the left channel, but Moorhouse was forced too wide to strike at the open goal and had to cross, which couldn’t find the head of James Scanlon.
Reece Munro had a shaky match at the back and was beaten by a dribble just after the hour mark for Chelsea to break into the box. Luckily Murdock did well to save after a cross to the back post.
United looked to hit on the counter themselves with Amass central to two in quick succession, but Ibragimov couldn’t connect with the ball at the back post before Amass was denied with attempt on goal.
Ultimately, Travis Binnion’s side couldn’t find the net on the night as the match ended 2-0.
A match of moments, Chelsea took theirs in attack while United failed to capitalise on all the good work done in midfield.
The u21s have little time to rest though as they return to London on Tuesday to take on Sutton United in the National League Cup.
United: Murdock, Ogunneye, Munro (Murray 76), Fredricson (C), Amass, McAllister, T. Fletcher (Rowe 76), Scanlon, J. Fletcher, Moorhouse (Ibragimov 59), Biancheri
Unused subs: Myles
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Colm Murphy
A football obsessed Canadian who moved to England to enjoy the beautiful game. Colm has been keen follower of Manchester United’s famed academy since seeing a fresh faced Adnan Januzaj for the club’s u18s and has been writing about football with a focus on youth development for over 10 years.
