Leicester City U21s 1-1 Manchester United U21s: Match report
At the King Power Stadium it was honours even between the Manchester United and Leicester City Under-21s, as various ex Reds ran out against their former employees.
Former United starlet Jack Barmby started against his old colleagues and 19 year old Louis Rowley was on the bench for Leicester – months after being let go by United. Tom Lawrence didn’t feature in the squad and will be disappointed that he hasn’t been handed the first team opportunities he desired on his exit from his boyhood team, after being given his debut at the end of last season under interim manager and fellow Welshman Ryan Giggs.
They came up against a side which contained many a big name: Robin van Persie and Jonny Evans returning from their respective injuries, Adnan Januzaj and James Wilson getting game time as they continue on their missions to break into the first team picture properly, and Rafael seemingly being a fully-fledged Under-21 player based on recent weeks, Valencia’s form appearing to be keeping on the periphery of van Gaal’s plans.
Captain Tom Thorpe came back into the side and Liam Grimshaw dropped to the bench in an interesting looking United line-up which saw Donald Love, traditionally a right back or centre back, play in a three man midfield.
The Under-21 Premier League table paints a deceptive picture at the minute, with United sitting top, however, with City and Chelsea having several games in hand the fight for the title could be very tight, potentially setting up the mini Manchester derby on the last game of the campaign to be a crucial one at Old Trafford.
The first chance of the game fell to United; Sean Goss was brought down just over the halfway line and quickly sprayed the resulting free kick down the left flank for the nippy Bolton loanee Andy Kellett who darted to the by-line near the edge of the area and cut the ball back for James Wilson who, running onto the ball, hit a shot against the covering Leicester defender which deflected the shot agonizingly wide.
After grabbing an injury time winner against his ex-team on his first match against them, Barmby came close to scoring against them again as he hit a powerful curled shot just over the bar. It wasn’t Barmby that opened the scoring but it was Leicester, Harry Panayiotou got on the end of Knockaert’s inviting cross to score his ninth goal in ten games. Knockaert twisted and turned down the right flank and took advantage of Kellett’s slip to advance and set up the Leicester born St. Kitts and Nevis international who had an easy job in volleying home past the sprawled Joel Pereira.
Not long after that The Foxes nearly extended their lead, left back Ben Chilwell got down the wing well and played in a cross which Blackett stabbed away, the clearance bounced up invitingly for Jak McCourt who laced a volley goalwards; his shot bounced up awkwardly for United keeper Joel Pereira who got down well to stop the shot.
James Wilson did his best to inspire a comeback, curling a decent effort towards goal just inside the area to which Adam Smith saved just about. A moment later, on the counter, Wilson broke down the right wing and cut in, beating three Leicester players skilfully before a defender got back at him to concede a corner, he looked the most likely to do something but his efforts were to no avail.
Unexpectedly, United equalised. Van Persie manoeuvred his way around the edge of the box before leaving the ball to Sean Goss who glided through the defence and after two touches, poked the ball past the Leicester ‘keeper to get his first goal at Under-21 level.
Rafael was forced off in the 40th minute after receiving a knee to ribs in an aerial battle before crashing back down to earth, his misfortune with injuries seem to still have a hold over him and he trundled down the tunnel frustrated that his opportunity to impress his manager was cut short. In added time in the second half Jonny Evans headed an effort that would have gone in if not for the tremendous reflexes of Adam Smith.
Joel Pereira was yet again called into action as Leicester’s Dodoo misfired a close range shot which fell to the feet of March’s Under-21 Player of the Month and Panayiotou who attempted to grab his second of the night. Pereira smothered the shot excellently to prevent his side yet again falling behind. Van Persie managed to last 62 minutes; his substitution, along with the departure of Januzaj before him and Rafael even earlier, caused a lack of fluidity in United’s play. Januzaj’s replacement, James Weir, though, flashed a shot just over the same bar that Barmby had done earlier, missing by around a similar margin, in a very similar position from goal.
The exchanging of chances continued as Leicester found themselves spurning two golden opportunities. The first was a dangerous flash across goal from McCourt which no Leicester attacker was able to get on the end of, much to the relief of Warren Joyce and his team. Hearts were back in mouths in less than a minute as danger man Panayiotou was played through before playing a reverse ball which none of his team mates were proactive enough to reach and tap in.
Wilson again found himself with opportunities to help his side as near the end of the match Thorpe played a through ball over the top which created a one against one situation from which Wilson created half a yard before surprisingly dragging his shot wide. In stoppage time Wilson hit a right footed effort from a few yards out at Smith after Kellett crossed to him. In the end though both sides had to settle for a point.