FIRST HALF – LEVEL AT THE BREAK

Another week of pre-season preparations looked to have paid dividends inside the opening three minutes as United got off to a lightning-quick start. Fresh from his goal from the bench in last week’s victory at Derby, Facundo Pellistri turned provider, slipping in Jesse Lingard who placed the ball past Seny Dieng to give the Reds an early lead in West London. 

Despite conceding early, our Championship opponents had also enjoyed a sharp start to the encounter and were clinical at the other end to ensure that the scores would be level again, less than two minutes later. Lee Wallace’s cross from the left found the head of an unmarked Charlie Austin, who nodded in from close range to make it 1-1. 

After a breathless opening to the contest with the two attacks in full flow, some good good defensive work from both sides took centre stage, with clear-cut chances hard to come by in the remainder of the half. Both Tom Heaton, and his goalkeeping counterpart Seny Dieng, were kept busy in their respective goals however, before the whistle went for the interval after the break. 

Leave a Reply