Manchester United u21s hosted Fulham in Premier League 2 action on Monday night at Leigh Sports Village.
It was a heavily rotated side for Travis Binnion with many players absent after being involved with the first team’s matchday squad on Sunday but Ayden Heaven featured to make his United debut.
The January signing from Arsenal started well with a good touch under pressure before crisply moving the ball into the midfield.
The opening quarter of the match saw little in the way of action in front of either goal though as United had most of the possession but were unable to carve open any dangerous space past the compact Fulham backline.
The first big chance of the match came in the 35th minute when Callum Osmand burst past Reece Munro on the right side before knocking it past Heaven and going round him with ease but the Fulham striker’s awkward attempt to use his right foot to shoot saw the ball go wide and let United off the hook.
Osmand caused danger again moments later when he squared it across the box to Chris Donnell on the right to shoot low back across the goal, but Will Murdock did exceptionally well to shift his feet and get down to save.
United’s best chance of the half came just before the break when Malachi Sharpe nutmegged the fullback to burst through and into the box before forcing a save from Fulham’s Michael Allen.
Heaven departed at the break having played well on the ball in the first half and was replaced by Tyler Fredricson.
Coming in cold off the bench, the energetic Osmand caught Fredricson out with a clever run behind the United centre back to be slipped in by Lemar Gordon to finish low past Murdock.
United pushed for the equaliser but Fulham’s proved tough to breakdown.
The closest United came was when Finley McAllister won possession in midfield before feeding forward to Sharpe whose effort from outside the box was deflected off the post and out for a corner.
A late chance fell to James Scanlon when Tommy Rowe’s cross was headed down by Sam Murray but the Gibraltar international couldn’t sort his feet out which saw the chance go begging.
The loss ends a five match winning streak which saw United climb the table, where they now sit in fourth place.
There is a quick turnaround for Binnion’s side as they take on Fulham’s West London rivals Chelsea on Friday night.
United: Murdock, Ogunneye, Munro, Heaven (Fredricson 46), Murray, McAllister, Rowe, Sharpe, Thwaites (Kamason 65), Scanlon, Musa (Biancheri 72)
Unused subs: Myles, Bailey
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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.
