Same Old, Same Old: Imps 0-1 Manchester United Under 21s

Within minutes of coming back out, we were almost level. The ball was in the net, a cross from… well, you know where it came from, was stabbed home by John Akinde who was ruled offside. From the press box, it was hard to tell, but there’s no doubt in the mind of those in line with it that we scored a decent goal. I’m not going to cry about it, the decision was marginal and you win some, you lose some. We lost that.

At this stage I suppose I ought to address a gripe I do have from last night and I appreciate I’m about to feed a whole load of trolls; John didn’t do enough for me. It wasn’t his night and in his post-match press conference, Jake Hesketh admitted that his role was to get around John and pick up the pieces from him. There were no pieces. I didn’t see him win a header all night and some of those crosses were just begging for someone to put them away. The one time he did get on the end of one, it was offside.

Battling against two 17-year-old kids, I really expected to see an experienced centre forward come out on top. Last night, I didn’t.

50 – More good work from (you guessed it) the left. Hesketh combines with Toffolo but O'Connor fires the cross wide #LINvMNU

— Gary (@Withcall_Imp) October 1, 2019

Still we kept raiding down the left, the next chance fell to Michael O’Connor at the back stick. The cross could (and should) have been touched home by someone in the six-yard box, but instead it found it’s way to Mickey arriving late, but he fired wide. The goal was surely coming.. wasn’t it? Bolger thought so, his header from a corner was nodded clear of the goal after beating Kovar. If you keep knocking on the door, someone will surely let you in, won’t they?

Apparently not. Grant had a good opportunity from a free kick which he got up and over, but not beyond the impressive United keeper. I’ve seen a lot of good keepers come out of their youth ranks; Sam Johnstone, Dean Henderson and Kieran O’Hara to name three. This lad Kovar is another, he commanded his area well and was more than adequate whenever tested. Jorge Grant got away not long after the free kick and, once again, his effort was saved.

United weren’t without their talent though and chances began to come their way as the game got stretched. After a quiet first half, Largie Ramzani began to grow into the game and just after the hour mark he hit the post for the visitors. We were edging further forward and that left the sort of space in behind that 18-year-old academy hopefuls thrive on.

That wasn’t to say the balance shifted; within seconds of them hitting the post, Jake Hesketh had an effort up the other end, but couldn’t get power behind his shot. It was his final involvement of the evening and after an impressive debut he was replaced by Bruno.

I felt Bruno played a little bit deeper than Hesketh and as a result our attacking pattern broke down a bit. I know he played in that role for Boreham Wood, but he spent more time going and looking for the ball, rather than trying to pick the bits up from John. Maybe he felt the same way I did about the big man’s outing last night, but for a few minutes we struggled to assert our dominance.

That’s not to blame Bruno, he had a decent shot sail over the bar, but until Harry came off for Jack Payne we weren’t quite as effective. They had their moments too, Bolger sold Smith a bit short with a backpass, but the keeper had a little trick to fool Ramzani and come away with the ball. It was audacious and if he tried it in a league match I’d probably cry.

The game did begin to peter out. Callum Connolly had a powerful drive saved by the Czech keeper and Ramzani hit the post for the visitors, with Smith being forced to narrow an angle after being left horribly exposed at the back. I thought he had a decent game, nothing he could do about the goal and performed well when he needed to.

There was a late moment of drama, a really strong handball shout in the area. Even from the press box, it was a clear handball, but the referee wasn’t interested and waved the protests away. Again, it’s easy to start moaning but if we hadn’t been so incredibly wasteful in front of goal it wouldn’t have mattered.

That was that. We lost 1-0 to the Under 21s, the first time a youth side have beaten us in the competition and if we’re honest, that’s the end of that. It wasn’t a bad performance, but you have to score goals to win football matches. In truth, it was more of the same from MK Dons, Doncaster in the league, Rochdale second half; we played really well but couldn’t find a way through.

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Dare I say, if we played Tyler up front I feel we could have won the game but why risk him in this fixture. Had big John been on his game, we might have had one to boast about, but he did struggle last night. He wasn’t woeful, but I don’t think he had the impact we’d like to see. Also, despite some flashes, I thought it took young Ellis a while to get into the game as well, which was a shame. He was always a willing runner and eager to create something, but not everything he tried came off although as the game wore on he did grow into it.

I’ve seen a few comments on social media about Michael Appleton not going over to thank the fans; I get that some people don’t like that but I really think he’s got better things to think about, hasn’t he? We’re in a new era and maybe in this era, we don’t get exactly the same service we’ve been getting for three years. Personally, I don’t need a fist-pump or energetic sprint over to the supporters after a 1-0 defeat against an academy team. If we’re so keen to embrace the new era then let’s accept the little nuances for now, shall we?

Who came out in a good light last night? Hesketh, Smith, Lewis and Jorge Grant certainly did themselves the world of good. Harry Toffolo was my definite Man of the Match though, he led by example and was a constant thorn in the United player’s side.

On to the next match now and whilst my friend from Manchester is flying all over Europe, I’m back at my dining table writing infinite articles about the Football League and getting my Shih Tzu trimmed up. Lifestyles of the rich and famous.

Bring on the Mackems.