United’s reserves slipped to a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Aston Villa at Moss Lane on Monday night. With many of the regular reserve starters making the long trip to Istanbul for the first team’s match against Galatasaray, it offered up the opportunity for some of the fringe players and U18s to make their mark on the U21s.
With Captain Bebe leading the side out, United created some decent chances in the early stages; Adnan Januzaj smashed a cross shot across goal which was excellently kept out by the Villa goalkeeper after 15 minutes. Villa had a good chance of their own when a free kick nearly made its way into the back of the net, only for Jonny Sutherland to keep the scores deadlocked. An even first half came to a goal-less conclusion after both sides failed to take their respective chances.
However, soon after the restart, Villa were awarded a penalty when Reece James was judged to have committed a foul, the spot kick was dispatched by Graham to give Villa a one goal lead. Mats Daehli and Jack Barmby were introduced by Warren Joyce to attempt to pull a goal back but United struggled to threaten the Villa goal.
The away side controlled the second period and could have doubled their lead when they wasted a great chance when through on goal. U18 Liam Grimshaw made his reserves debut when he replaced Charni Ekangamene but the reds never looked like salvaging a point as the encounter finished 0-1, United’s first home defeat in nearly two years.
Manchester United vs Aston Villa at Moss Lane
Sutherland
Veseli
McCullough
Fornasier
James
Bebe
Ekangamene (Grimshaw 74)
Hendrie (Barmby 76)
Lawrence (Daehli 58)
Januzaj
Henriquez
Subs not used: Gollini, Wilson
