Manchester United travelled down to Southampton on Saturday morning in the Barclays Premier Academy League at the Staplewood Training Ground.
After the last two fixtures ended in impressive results for the reds against Newcastle and Sunderland, hopes were high for another great result in cold but sunny conditions down in Southampton.
Unfortunately that wasn’t the case as they lost 2-1 after some sloppy defending cost United any points down on the south coast.
Chances came at both ends in the first ten minutes, one of which Manchester United’s Donald Love headed off the line. The decision making of young goalkeeper Gollini was also tested early on during the match, the Italian seems to be getting better game by game for United.
The first real chance of the game came to Southampton in the 22nd minute after sloppy play in midfield from Pereira & then a mix-up in United’s defence forced Gollini to make a great save after a strong header from Southampton’s forward, Seager.
It didn’t take long after his headed chance for Southampton’s top goalscorer, Ryan Seager to brake the deadlock with a calmly slotted chance into the bottom corner making it 1-0 to the home side.
Going into the break the score line was still 1-0 to Southampton but United ended the half on top, Byrne almost getting on to the end of a cross which was palmed out from Saints keeper Johns.
After half time, in the 46th minute, Southampton extended their lead to 2-0 with once again sloppy defending from United letting Ryan Seager in to calmly take the ball around Gollini before scoring his and Southampton’s second of the game.
James Weir with some impressive play on the hour mark opened up a chance for Sam Byrne to strike on goal, unfortunately it was a tame shot direct at the goalkeeper.
McGuinness made a double change on the 70th minute bringing on Gorré & Harrop to replace Byrne & Rudge.
In the 73rd minute, Manchester United pulled one back with a stunning strike from Pereira, cutting inside to score with a sweetly hit shot from 20-yards.
In the final 15-minutes of the match United put on some real pressure but unfortunately could not draw back level, game ending Southampton 2-1 Manchester United.
The Manchester United Academy take on Loughborough University on Wednesday night before their next league game against Tottenham Hotspur next Saturday at Carrington.
Manchester United Starting XI:
Manager: Paul McGuinness
Gollini
Love
Rowley
McNair
Grimshaw
Pearson
Weir
Rudge (Harrop – 70th)
Byrne (Gorré – 70th)
Pereira
Dæhli
Subs not used: Wilkinson, Dalley
Goals: S’Ton (Seager x 2) – Man Utd (None)
RM Man Of The Match: Ryan Seager (Southampton)
Attendance: Behind Closed Doors
Next U18s Match Fixture:
Loughborough University (A) Moss Lane
Wednesday 10th October 2012
