Magnificent seven for Ole’s Reds as Kendal are put to the sword

With the Manchester Senior Cup Final on the agenda this coming week, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer took a number of those likely to feature in that clash with Bolton to the Lake District on Saturday for a friendly against Unibond Premier side Kendal Town. A mixed reserve and academy selection recorded an impressive 7-2 win at Parkside Road, a handy warm-up for the big game on Tuesday and, despite the scoreline, a great end to an excellent season for the hosts.

Robbie Brady was the star of the show, hitting a fine hattrick and earning rave reviews from the local press, the Westmorland Gazette going as far as to compare his style of play to that of Wayne Rooney! You could be forgiven for getting a sense of deja vu at this point – a United XI also put seven goals past Newcastle Town in another friendly in January, and Brady bagged a hattrick that day too. The Irish 17 year-old has only found the net once in competitive games so far, but there’s clearly a goal threat to his game that both Solskjaer and Paul McGuinness will hope to bring to the fore in 2009/10.

Robbie Brady - second friendly hattrick of the season

Also on the scoresheet was Lee Martin, whose early brace continued a useful run of scoring since his return to the reserve setup – the central role handed to him by OGS seems to have re-ignited a career that was in some danger of really stagnating. Further goals came from Ollie Norwood, fresh from his impressive cameo for Northern Ireland B in midweek, and sub Cameron Stewart. Febian Brandy was another notable replacement, the Mancunian forward making his first appearance since returning from a loan spell at Hereford that had its personal highs but unfortunately ended in relegation.

The Reds were 7-0 up at one point, but late goals from Paul Byrne and Alex Taylor gave the scoreline a more palatable look for the hosts, as well as giving a bumper home crowd something to cheer about on a day that was just as much about providing a fitting conclusion to their season as it was providing the Reds with match practice before their cup final date at the Reebok Stadium.

 
UNITED
1. Conor Devlin
2. Richard Eckersley (c) (12. Scott Moffatt 46)
3. Jimmy Derbyshire (14. Joe Dudgeon 46)
4. Scott Wootton
5. Ritchie De Laet (15. Kenny Strickland 46)
6. Oliver Norwood
7. Magnus Eikrem (16. Rodrigo Possebon 46)
8. Ravel Morrison
9. Nicky Ajose (18. Febian Brandy 46)
10. Lee Martin (17. Cameron Stewart 46)
11. Robbie Brady

Scorers: Martin 11′ 18′, Brady ’21 ’69 ’81, Norwood ’47, Stewart ’74