From your Middle-east correspondent in Doha.
Manchester United took on Glasgow Celtic at the Cliff this afternoon, with each teams Academy battling it out for junior honours.
There is also a scheduled reserve team fixture pencilled in for the return match in Glasgow. This is not an unusual practice as United have played junior friendlies many times before European Cup ties, notably Bayer Leverkusen, Olympiakos, Sporting Lisbon, Dynamo Kiev and Celtic.
United had all the usual suspects starting the game but elevated four youngsters from the u-16's to take their places on the bench. Ravel Morrison, who has recently played in England Schoolboys 6-0 drubbing of Northern Ireland, Sam Johnstone, who has just been called into the England Boys team to face Scotland. The two other faces were local lads Jesse Lingard and Larnell Cole.
In a relatively uneventful first half, both teams looked good on the ball without really creating many chances. Celtic looked a neat outfit so it was a good test for our lads.
Half-time 0-0
In the second half, Paul McGuinness brought on Ajose for Chris Curran, but instead of putting pressure on the visitor's defence, we conceded at the other end! Celtic took the lead on 53 minutes when a free kick from just outside the area managed to squirm past Conor Devlin at the near post. United did their best to force the game and Paul McGuinness then brough on Morrison and Lingard for their u-18 debut's. The Reds got a well deserved equaliser when Matty James, who has been outstanding all season, scored from the edge of the box. Two minutes later Cole replaced Josh King, and although we had a few chances top sneak at the end, a draw was probably a fair result.
Final Score: Manchester United 1 Glasgow Celtic 1
Team
1. Devlin.
2. Stewart
3. Gill
4. Strickland
5. Wootton
6. James
7. Curran
8. Norwood
9. King
10. Petrucci
11. Brady
12. Ajose (7) '51
13. Woods
14. Morrison (10) '62
15. Lingard (11) '70
16. Cole (9) '78
17. Johnstone
Manchester United took on Glasgow Celtic at the Cliff this afternoon, with each teams Academy battling it out for junior honours.
There is also a scheduled reserve team fixture pencilled in for the return match in Glasgow. This is not an unusual practice as United have played junior friendlies many times before European Cup ties, notably Bayer Leverkusen, Olympiakos, Sporting Lisbon, Dynamo Kiev and Celtic.
United had all the usual suspects starting the game but elevated four youngsters from the u-16's to take their places on the bench. Ravel Morrison, who has recently played in England Schoolboys 6-0 drubbing of Northern Ireland, Sam Johnstone, who has just been called into the England Boys team to face Scotland. The two other faces were local lads Jesse Lingard and Larnell Cole.
In a relatively uneventful first half, both teams looked good on the ball without really creating many chances. Celtic looked a neat outfit so it was a good test for our lads.
Half-time 0-0
In the second half, Paul McGuinness brought on Ajose for Chris Curran, but instead of putting pressure on the visitor's defence, we conceded at the other end! Celtic took the lead on 53 minutes when a free kick from just outside the area managed to squirm past Conor Devlin at the near post. United did their best to force the game and Paul McGuinness then brough on Morrison and Lingard for their u-18 debut's. The Reds got a well deserved equaliser when Matty James, who has been outstanding all season, scored from the edge of the box. Two minutes later Cole replaced Josh King, and although we had a few chances top sneak at the end, a draw was probably a fair result.
Final Score: Manchester United 1 Glasgow Celtic 1
Team
1. Devlin.
2. Stewart
3. Gill
4. Strickland
5. Wootton
6. James
7. Curran
8. Norwood
9. King
10. Petrucci
11. Brady
12. Ajose (7) '51
13. Woods
14. Morrison (10) '62
15. Lingard (11) '70
16. Cole (9) '78
17. Johnstone