Academy Match Report: Manchester United u21s 1-1 Brighton & Hove Albion u21s | OneFootball

Manchester United U21s hosted Brighton & Hove Albion on Monday night at Leigh Sports Village as they made their return to action after the international break.

The match started off slowly with neither side bringing too much energy to the game.

Some intricate play at the edge of Brighton’s area opened up space for Zach Baumann on the left side to shoot but it was blocked and it fell to Harry Amass whose attempt flashed wide of the post.

Their was little to take note of in the first half and fittingly the match’s opening goal came from a scrappy own goal in the 41st minute.

Amass overlapped Sam Murray on the left wing and delivered low into the box for Brighton captain Ruairi McConville to steer into his own net to make it 1-0 to United heading into the break.

In the second half, Charlie McNeill was played in down the right channel by Rhys Bennett who then went down in the box but his penalty appeals were quickly waved away.

Amass was looking the most dangerous for United as he won the ball high up the pitch and then dribbled through three Brighton defenders but the left back couldn’t keep his right footed effort on target.

Ethan Wheatley and Amir Ibragimov were introduced by Travis Binnion just before the hour mark and the two combined nicely to feed Ibragimov in the box with the 16-year-old’s strike blocked by the Brighton defence with McNeill’s follow up attempt also blocked out for a corner.

Brighton finally came alive late on though and equalised in the 72nd minute.

Poor defending from United from a corner allowed Brighton’s McConville to make amends for his own goal by rising free in the box to head down at goal which was initially blocked by Ashton Missin but McConville was the only one alive to the rebound to smash past Dermot Mee.

For all of United’s possession they did little to threaten Brighton’s goal for a winner and it was the visitors who looked the more likely to do so.

In the 89th minute, Brighton countered with blistering pace to force two fantastic saves from Mee before Jacob Devaney blocked the third attempt at goal to ensure United at least got one point from the game.

The draw leaves United in 12th place, the cut off for qualification to next season’s Premier League International Cup and four spots above the cut-off for the end-of-season play-off qualifications.

United: Mee, Ogunneye (Missin 46), Bennett, Aljofree, Murray, Amass, Baumann (Devaney 78), Curley (Ibragimov 59), Oyedele, Ennis (Wheatley 59), McNeill

Unused subs: Wooster

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