From manutd.com
Kieran Richardson
United reserves 1 Sunderland 3
FA Premier Reserve League (North)
It was a familiar story for Mike Phelan’s men, and Manchester United in general, at Moss Lane on Thursday night.
Again it was a young United reserve side that faced an experienced set of first-team players – the 5-0 mauling by Manchester City still fresh in the memory – with Sunderland’s reserves boasting £20million-worth of talent.
Mike Phelan’s young charges showed no signs of being star-struck, however. And United couldn’t have got off to a better start. With only 12 seconds on the clock, Daniel Nardiello burst into the box only to be felled by Sunderland stopper Michael Ingham.
Nardiello placed the ball on the spot and struck a penalty powerful enough to reach the bottom left corner despite a touch from Ingham.
But some poor defending in the 9th minute allowed Matthew Piper to run across the edge of United’s box and slip the ball through to Marcus Stewart. The former Ipswich striker, who is trying to regain some fitness after a long injury lay-off, was fortunate to receive the pass after a deflection off Danny Pugh’s right boot. Stewart then shrugged off Alan Tate’s challenge and stabbed the ball past Roy Carroll to bring the scores level.
The goal seemed to stun Mike Phelan’s men - just 90 seconds later, Stewart was on hand to pounce again. Slack marking by the home side allowed the Sunderland striker to bundle the ball home for his, and Sunderland’s, second of the match. United’s early advantage had been thrown away in a 90-second lapse in concentration.
The Reds could have drawn level on the quarter-hour mark with some good work in attack by Daniel Nardiello. The 19-year-old forward, fresh from a Champions League run-out just two days earlier, broke through the middle of the park and found Colin Heath, who had cleverly pulled away from Emerson Thome. But as the promising Heath let the ball come across his body, he fluffed his attempt, and the ball ran harmlessly through to Ingham for Sunderland to maintain their 2-1 lead.
In all fairness, it could easily have been more for the Black Cats, with Stewart finding gaps in United’s defence, Schwarz bossing the game from the midfield, and £3.5million signing Matt Piper terrorising the Reds down the flanks.
The game had to be stopped in the 50th minute when Argentinian midfielder Julio Arca landed awkwardly. It was a sad sight to see the tricky winger stretchered off the field of play with a brace on his right leg.
Kieran Richardson made his return to more familiar surroundings after a Champions League start against Maccabi Haifa. And the 18-year-old showed no signs of appearing too big for his boots – hard work and a crunching challenge in midfield showed his commitment to the cause.
The promising youngster took his time to get into the game but when on the ball he oozed confidence and showed ability in abundance. Three wonderful, raking passes out to the left flank brought applause from the Moss Lane crowd, and in the 85th minute he almost engineered the equaliser.
Richardson went on one of his jinking runs, taking on Ben Clark – twice – and then found the tireless Nardiello in the box. The Coventry-born striker couldn’t quite wrap his foot around the ball and shot wide.
The second half was more promising for the Reds, producing a battling display but with just two shots on target in the 90 minutes, it wasn’t to be.
Sunderland fielded eight Premiership players, and under the watchful eye of manager Howard Wilkinson, they had a point to prove. And they certainly proved it as Kevin Kyle rounded off the night with a goal, rising above David May to direct a powerful header past the stranded Roy Carroll to make it 3-1.
Team line-ups
United Reserves: Carroll, Roche, Tierney, Tate, May, Lynch, Chadwick, Rankin (Richardson 45), Heath, Nardiello, Pugh. Subs: Richardson, B Williams, Taylor, Fox, Bardsley.
Sunderland Reserves: Ingham, Rossiter, Thome, Varga, Clark, Piper, Schwarz, Williams, Arca (Dickman 51), Kyle, Stewart (Proctor 57). Subs: Proctor, Turms, Dickman, Byrne, Thornton
