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Manchester United u21s hosted Southampton at Carrington on Saturday for their last match of the year before a break for the holidays.
With only two points separating them in the table and Southampton featuring the highly coveted Baylee Dipepa up top, it looked set for an exciting encounter.
But the action looked to go one way from the off. A delicately curled through ball from Sam Murray set Ethan Wheatley free for a big chance within the opening five minutes but a tame effort from the United striker resulted in an easy catch for Southampton keeper Adli Mohamed.
Ten minutes later, United’s corner was cleared to the edge of the box for Tyler Fletcher to shoot into the ground and loop up and into the top left corner out of the reach of the keeper to give United the lead.
In the 19th minute, Jack Moorhouse dribbled into the box and was taken down to earn United a penalty. Wheatley stepped up to take but his low shot down the middle was stopped by Mohamed’s trailing leg which sent the ball over the bar.
Malachi Sharpe then broke free down the right wing and looked to catch the keeper out with a low finish but it cannoned back off the post for Moorhouse to provide a follow up attempt that was excellently stopped by the recovering keeper.
United finally doubled the lead just after the half hour mark, capitalising on a mistake from Southampton at the back. A well played triangle of passes between Dan Gore, Sharpe, and Moorhouse ended with Gore taking the strike at the edge of the box on his left boot into the bottom left corner.
It could have easily been more but the score remained 2-0 going into the break.
The stellar performance was certain to catch the eye of the crowd at Carrington which included Ruben Amorim, Jason Wilcox, Darren Fletcher, and Nick Cox.
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Seven minutes into the second half, Moorhouse got his well deserved goal when Gore picked up the ball and drove into space before playing through Moorhouse to run into the box and finish low past the keeper.
Wheatley then made up for his first half misses with a spectacular finish to make it 4-0. Sharpe won the ball high up before Gore laid off to Wheatley who took the chance first time while leaning back and off balance to curl the ball into the far right corner.
Just after the hour mark, the visitors pulled one back though through Dipepa who was previously linked with a transfer to United before making his move to Southampton in the summer from Port Vale. A well delivered wide free kick found an open Dipepa who lost his marker to head in from close range.
Ethan Ennis provided some dangerous running off the bench with a cross that should have been finished to make it five but it wasn’t until injury time that the man of the match Moorhouse added his second to seal off the 5-1 victory.
Picking up the ball well into the United half, Moorhouse drove over 60 yards before passing to Missin and then got the return ball in the box to dance past two defenders and finish into the bottom right corner to cap off an excellent display.
Travis Binnion’s side finish off the year with three points which sees them push up the table into 5th place.
United: Mee, Ogunneye (Kamason 72), Jackson, Kingdon, Murray, Gore, Moorhouse, T.Fletcher (McAllister 62), Sharpe (Ennis 62), Wheatley (Biancheri 72), Missin
Unused subs: Rowe
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