Manchester United’s Under-21s traveled to Blackburn today for a PL2 match, which kicked off shortly after the Under-18s also played Blackburn Rovers.
It was Blackburn who would threaten first as they ran down the left and lobbed a threatening ball across the area which was clipped at the back post for Jack Vale to shoot just wide.
Three minutes later, a botched interception by Tyler Fredricson allowed Vale to swing on goal past Ondrej Mastny, but the striker’s effort failed to clear the post.
Then it was United’s turn to attack as Dan Gore took the ball at the turn through two opposition players before skillfully playing through Charlie McNeill who raced down the right hand side but was parried by the keeper with his attempt. nearby pole.
In the 25th minute, Vale would give Blackburn the lead after Sam Murray stumbled while attempting to make an interception, allowing Vale to run towards goal. This time he made no mistake by placing the ball in the lower left corner.
United came close to winning one back immediately when Charlie Savage’s overhead pass caused an error by the advancing goalkeeper and gave McNeill a great chance with an open goal, but the recovering defender held firm to heading McNeill’s shot.
It was another goalkeeper error just minutes later, but this time from Mastny as he passed the ball straight to Harry Leonard and the Blackburn striker swooped in quickly to nail the net wide open from 25 yards out.
Blackburn’s third came five minutes later when Vale ran behind again before selflessly squaring off Leonard to roll into the net.
In the 36th minute, United would recover one through Shola Shoretire after running into an Isak Hansen-Aaroen square pass to fit into the bottom right corner from 12 yards out.
But hope was short-lived as just two minutes later, another calamitous error at the back saw Rhys Bennett gift the ball to Vale to score his second.
Moments before the break and Blackburn made it five, their captain Jared Harlock firing a fantastic shot into the top right corner from the edge of the area.
United came out in the second half and looked to threaten with some speculative efforts from Omari Forson and Marc Jurado, but it would be Blackburn who would find the net again.
Ethan Walker would make it six with a bold bicycle kick after going wide from six yards.
Hansen-Aaroen came close to recovering one later when he brought down Gore’s long ball over the top, but couldn’t time his right-footed chip correctly to beat the diving keeper.
More chances were to come for Gore and McNeill, but in the end neither of them could find the net as the match ended 6-1, coincidentally with the same score in the under-18 win against Blackburn at the same time.
Manager Mark Dempsey, as expected, wasn’t pleased with the result, but looked for the silver linings in the second half, saying “Shola Shoretire was excellent.”
United: Mastny, Jurado, Fredricson, Bennett, Murray, Savage, Gore, Forson, Hansen-Aaroen, Shoretire, McNeill
Unused subs: Wooster, Kingdon, Collyer, Huddlestone
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