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While Manchester United took on Aston Villa at senior level, United’s u21s were also in action on Sunday as they hosted rivals Liverpool at Leigh Sports Village.
The opening half hour saw both sides create little with the best of the first half action coming late on.
Dan Gore played to Ethan Williams on the left who delivered a fantastic low cross to the back post, but unfortunately Toby Collyer was caught wrong-footed and was then unable to turn his effort towards goal from a tough angle.
The former Liverpool man, Ethan Ennis, then drove at his defender before laying off to Jack Fletcher at the edge of the box to shoot low. But Kornel Miściur saved well and then smothered the rebound before Williams could pounce.
The chances were flowing by the end of the first half, with Gore pulling the strings with a reverse pass to set Ennis free into the box. But Miściur was out quick to save again before Ethan Wheatley’s rebound attempt was incredibly poked off his toe to keep the scores level going into the break.
Into the second half, Gore had his long range effort pushed over the bar before Williams tested the keeper with a low shot from the resulting corner.
United had fully gained control of the match at this point but for all of their dominance, could not find the breakthrough.
Such misses tend to prove costly and that they did, as completely against the run of play, Liverpool took the lead in the 67th minute. A bad kick from Dermot Mee went straight to Liverpool’s Tyler Morton who had his first effort saved, but he collected the rebound and shifted onto his left to open the space for an easy finish into the empty net.
It was a costly error as Morton, an experienced England u21s international with over 100 senior club appearances to his name, was always going to take advantage of such a gift.
United chased the equaliser for the rest of the match, dominating possession in the process, but struggled to create any clear openings.
The final whistle came with the score remaining at 0-1. It was a possibly undeserved result as United controlled the match and created the bulk of the chances, but ultimately failing to take those chances costed Travis Binnion’s side the three points.
United have a quick turnaround to look to make up for the poor result, as they travel to take on Forest Green Rovers in the National League Cup on Wednesday night.
United: Mee, Ogunneye (Kamason 76), Kingdon, Fredricson, Amass (Rowe 88), Collyer, Gore; Ennis, J.Fletcher, Williams (Mather 70), Wheatley
Unused subs: Graczyk, Jackson