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Manchester United u21s had their first match back from the international break on Saturday afternoon away to Newcastle United.
Looking to bounce back from a loss to rivals Liverpool last time out in the league, United started strong with early efforts from Gabriele Biancheri and Tommy Rowe.
Biancheri was found inside the box by Zach Baumann who cut back for the Welsh striker, but he was denied by the keeper Aidan Harris.
United took the lead in the 16th minute when Sam Mather ventured into the box unmarked to side foot home on the volley from Jaydan Kamason’s cross.
Alfie Harrison came close to drawing it level when his strike from the edge of the box was deflected wide by United captain Louis Jackson.
Travis Binnion’s side then called Harris into action, with attempts from Mather and Malachi Sharpe, but the score remained 0-1 going into the break.
In the second half, Newcastle threatened through Anthony Munda, whose shot was heroically blocked by Finley McAllister.
United’s strong defending produced a number of good blocks with Rowe denying Leo Shahar later in the half. Such was United’s defensive resilience, the home side went onto finish the match with no shots on target.
In the 86th minute, Ethan Ennis finished the match off to seal a 0-2 victory when he latched onto a long ball before jinking past the defender and slotting low into the bottom left corner.
The win moves United up to sixth in the table with their next fixture coming on Wednesday night in the Premier League International Cup as they host PSV Eindhoven. The match will unfortunately not be broadcast due to clashing with the first team.
Impressed with the result, Binnion said after the match “we deserved to win and could have killed the game off ourselves but I thought we showed a really good spirit and character about us. We had a midfield who all played in Lithuania and they played 90 minutes today. You could see we were tired at moments, but we had a really good spirit about us and defended set plays really well.”
United: Mee, Kamason, Kingdon, Jackson, Rowe, McAllister, Baumann, Devaney, Sharpe (Missin 62), Biancheri (Ennis 68), Mather (Moorhouse 79)
Unused subs: Graczyk, Kukonki
Featured image Ian MacNicol via Getty Images