Under 23 4 - 0 Manchester United U23 - Match Report

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WHAT HAPPENED

Eddie Nketiah scored a brace, while Jeff Reine-Adelaide and Vlad Dragomir were also on target as we swept aside Manchester United at Meadow Park.

Keen to start well, we pressed forwards early on, allowing United little time on the ball, and almost made our pressure tell when Joe Willock flashed an effort just wide of the post 10 minutes in.

Soon after, Reine-Adelaide did well to skip through United’s back line and set up Nketiah, who couldn’t quite apply the finishing touch.

But a few minutes later, Reine-Adelaide did open the scoring, sliding the ball in from close range after ghosting in from the left-hand side.

Not happy with just the one, Reine-Adelaide raced in on goal yet again moments later, but this time saw his delicate dink blocked by Theo Richardson in goal.

With just 20 minutes gone, Reine-Adelaide could have been burying his hat-trick, when he rose to meet Jordi Osei-Tutu’s cross, but could only head narrowly wide of the mark.

Shortly after the half-hour mark Nketiah came close to doubling our lead, when he fired a curling effort just wide of the post after having been teed up by Reiss Nelson.

With half-time rapidly approaching, the visitors created their first opportunity of the match, when Josh Bouhi cut inside and sent the ball straight into the arms of Matt Macey.

Following the break, United created the first opportunity of the second half, when Indy Boonen swept the ball at goal, but saw his effort fly wide of the mark.

Despite this we scored next, this time through Dragomir, who placed the ball in the bottom corner after having been slipped through by Nelson.

Keen to get back into the game, the visitors upped the tempo and very nearly reduced the deficit through Aidy Barlow, who saw a header bound for the top corner saved spectacularly by Macey.

As the full-time whistle neared, Nketiah turned with speed and strength on the break, capping off a fine run with a composed finish to stretch our lead to three.

And after bagging one, Nketiah soon doubled up to add our fourth, linking up well with Nelson to poke the ball in past Richardson.

WHAT IT MEANS

Victory sees us rise to third in the league, just six points behind second-place Leicester City and seven behind league leaders Liverpool, with one game in hand.