Saturday August 20th, 11am
Trafford Training Centre, Carrington
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- |  |
| Manchester United U18s | 1-2 | Portsmouth U18s |
| Lawrence 89 | Colson 22 | |
| Grant 68 |
United’s new-look academy side fell to an unfortunate opening day defeat at Carrington as an oft-outplayed Portsmouth took all three points in smash and grab fashion.
Paul McGuinness’ team offered glimpses of a potentially promising future throughout but were undone by a glaring lack of cutting edge and some naive defending, the visitors netting twice against the run of play to leave the Reds too much to do, Tom Lawrence’s late strike ultimately proving to be in vain.
