Match Report - U17 Girls vs Liverpool

With rivalries and excitement at boiling point, Manchester United started the game with plenty of confidence only to concede within two minutes and Liverpool’s first attack of the game. The United U17s rallied after conceding early and with some encouraging one-touch, two-touch football through the centre,  Kirsty Hansen went one-on-one with the keeper and ended up being brought down for a penalty. Hansen stepped up and a placed a fantastic left-footed effort into the top corner to bring the game level after six minutes. United continued to dominate on the counter attack, however the home team stood strong and went through on goal to go 2-1 up at the stroke of half-time.

A half-time team talk from coaches Tom Fitton and Jenni Cummins fired up the trailing United girls who started the second half by switching the play and pressing into the wider areas.  This change of tactic lead to some fantastic attacking play from Alethea, Lucy and Emily, whilst building on some mature play from both Hollie Massey and Kennedy Owens. United’s equaliser came 15 minutes into the second half when Lucy hit a great left-footed strike into the near top corner. After drawing the scores level United pushed on and were a constant threat when looking for a winner but on this occasion a third goal was not meant to be.

Speaking after the game, coach Fitton said, “It was a hard-earned point and I was very impressed with the overall team performance.  It was unfortunate we did not pick up the three points but some fantastic individual performances helped us get back into the game.”

Woman of the match - Hollie Massey.